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OLE  TRUTH  ABOUT  QHWA^O 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE 
OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

OR 

The  Wickedest  City  m  the  World 

-By- 
ROBERT  O.  HARLAND. 

The   Reign   of  Vice,   Graft  and   Political   Corruption. 

Expose  of  the  monstrous  Vice  Trust.  Its  per- 
sonnel. Graft  by  the  Vice  Trust  from  the  Army  of 
Sin  for  protection.  A  score  of  forms  of  vice  graft. 
Horrifying  revelations  of  the  life  of  the  Scarlet 
Woman.  New  lights  on  White  Slavery.  Protected 
Gambling  and  the  blind  police.  The  inside  story  of 
an  enslaved  police  department.  A  warning  to  the 
parents.     How  to  save   YOUR   GIRL  or  BOY. 

ALSO  remedies  to  cure  the  Municipal  Evil 
that  in  one  city  alone  fills  the  pockets  of  not  more 
than  ten  Vice  Lords  with  $15,000,000,  annually,  made 
from  the  sins  of  50,000  unfortunate  men  and  women; 
an  evil  that  is  blasting  our  nation's  decency  and 
prosperity  and  is  eating  into  the  very  vitals  of  our 
Republic. 
Save  the  growing  generation  of  men  and  women. 


A  book  to  create  public  and  saving  opinion,  to 
destroy  lethargy  and  inoculate  the  germ  of  activity; 
to  enlist  every  aid  to  wipe  out  the  curse  of  this  nation. 


Copyright,     1912, 

-  by   - 

ROBERT    O.    HARLAND. 


PUBLISHED    BY 

THE   YOUNG   PEOPLE'S   CIVIC   LEAGUE 

301-305  Security  Building 

Chicago,  111. 


This  book  is  a  recital  of  sin,  crime  and  graft.  It  is 
fact,  not  fiction.  Commercialized  crime,  police  collusion 
with  underworld  power  and  the  barter  of  men's  and 
women's   souls   is   going   on    today. 

The  investigation  conducted  by  the  Civil  Service 
Commission,  which  has  resulted  in  the  discharge  of 
several  police  inspectors  and  a  number  of  subordinates, 
has  tended  to   minimize,  temporarily,  the  vice   coditions. 

The  vice  lords  have  sneaked  away  to  their  lairs,  and 
are  waiting  until  the  brooms  of  the  municipal  house- 
cleaners  are  stacked  away  in  a  corner. 

The  "town   is   closed,"   to  use  the   vernacular. 

That  fact  does  not  detract  from  the  moral  value 
of  this  expose. 

Why? 

Because  the   storm  will  blow  over. 

The  axe  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission  has  hacked 
deep  into  the  trunk  of  the  Vice-Graft  tree,  but  the  roots 
from  which  the  sap  of  crime  flows  still  live  and  flourish. 

A  few  policemen  have  been  thrown  into  the  discard, 
the   victims  of  the   System  that  is  still  imharmed. 

The  Temple  of  Crime,  Vice  and  Graft  will  be  re- 
builded.     The  foundation  is  intact. 

The  conditions  which  are  exposed  in  this  book  flour- 
ished until  a  few  months  ago.  Their  human  causes  still 
live,  but  craven  with  fear. 

The  Vice  Trust  shall  thrive  on  men's  souls  and 
women's  bodies  again. 

It  shall  exist  until  the  root  of  evil  is  killed  —  until 
corrupt  and  ruling  politics  is  hounded  out  of  the  city 
—  to  death! 


CONTENTS. 

Preface Page    9 

CHAPTER   I. 

THE  VICE  TRUST,   ITS   KINGDOM  AND   POWER. 

The  Story  of  Chicago's  Subjugation  to  Political  and 
Police  Corruption. —  The  Corrupt  Ballot  Box. —  The 
Mechanism  of  the  Trust. —  The  Prices  of  Sin  and 
Vice. —  The  Horror  of  Ruined  and  Purchased 
Lives. —  The    Remedy 15 

CHAPTER   II. 

THE  DEBAUCHERY  OF  THE  BALLOT. 

The  Sacredness  of  the  Ballot. —  Its  Corruption  by  the 
Vice  Trust.  —  Methods  of  Corruption.  —  Affidavits 
Showing  Corruption.  —  A  Cleansed  Ballot  Box,  A 
Cleansed  City 47 

CHAPTER  III. 

COME  AND  SEE. 

A   City  Defiled. 

The  First  Step.  —  State  Street  and  Its  Pitfalls. —  The 
Stages  of  Sin.  —  The  Borderland  of  Hell.  —  The 
Cafe  Evil.  —  The  Rich  Man's  Girl  Trap.  —  Crimes 
that  Thrive  by  Night 63 


6       THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  "REDLIGHT"  DISTRICT. 

Houses  of  Infamy.  —  The  Feeders  of  the  "Redlight" 
District.  —  The  Life  of  a  Prostitute.  —  The  Big 
Palaces  of  Vice.  —  The  Blood  Price.  —  Hidden 
Tragedies.  —  The  Polluted  Grave 87 

CHAPTER  V. 
WHAT  WILL  YOU  BID  FOR  THIS  WOMAN? 

White  Slavery.  —  The  Trapping  of  the  Prey.  —  Price 
of  a  Body  and  Soul.  —  Hell's  Bondage.  —  The 
"Cadet"  Master.  —  Death  the  Penalty 100 

CHAPTER  VI. 

VICE  AND    GRAFT. 

Police  Collectors.  —  The  Triumvirate.  —  Figures  that 
Freeze  the  Blood.  —  Graft  that  Feeds  on  Flesh  and 
Blood. — The  Prostitute's  Graft  Price. — The  Kimona 
Trust.  —  The  Laundry  Trust.  —  The  Criminal  Doc- 
tor.—  The  Prostitute  and  the  Beer  Graft.  —  The 
Woman  and  the  "Cadet." — Terrible  Examples. — 
Lure  of  the  Life.  —  The  Pace  that  Kills. —  To  the 
Woman:    Death. —  How  about  Your   Daughter?. ...  108 

CHAPTER  VII. 

SIDE  GRAFTS  OF  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL. 

The  Rent  Graft.  —  Saloon  Graft.  —  Dance  Halls  and 
Protective  Prices.  —  Graft  from  the  Vice  Palaces. 
—  The  Massage  Parlor.  —  The  Drug  Crime.  —  The 
Vampire  Trust 143 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY       7 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
GAMBLING  AND  ITS  GRAFT. 

The  Gambler's  Fate.  —  The  Handbook.  —  Other  Games 
of  Chance  and  Their  Protection.  —  Police  Profit. — 
All  Gambling  Crooked. —  A  Warning 156 

CHAPTER  IX. 

TEARING  OFF  THE  POLICE  MASK. 

A  Story  of  the  Hypocrisy  of  the  Police  Department. — 
Its  Neglect  of  Duty.  —  Its  Protection  of  Crime. 
—  The  Fate  of  One  Police  Official.  —  The  Lost 
Child  that  is  Never  Found.  —  The  Exposure  of  Big 
Crimes. — "Tipped  Off"  Raids. —  Strange  Ignorance 
of  Police.  —  The  Fate  of  the  Honest  Policeman. — 
Collusion   of  the    Police   and  Thieves 174 

CHAPTER  X. 
WHAT  ARE  YOU   GOING  TO   DO    ABOUT   IT? 

The  Cause  of  the  Great  Evils.  —  A  Warning.  —  The 
Duty  of  Parents.  —  Young  Girls  and  Boys  Should 
Know    the    Truth. —  Conclusion 190 


Preface. 

Seventy-five  years  have  elapsed  since  Chicago  be- 
came an  incorporated  city. 

From  a  trading  post  with  Fort  Dearborn  standing 
guard  over  its  small  population,  Chicago  has  grown 
until  today  she  ranks  among  the  great  metropoles  of  the 
world. 

Today  her  name  is  reckoned  with  in  every  country. 
Her  industries  are  the  supply  houses  of  the  nations ; 
her  manufacturing  plants  deal  with  all  peoples ;  her 
nnancial  institutions  figure  vitally  in  the  world's  ex- 
changes. 

Chicago  is  the  most  cosmopolitan  city  on  the  globe. 
The  children  of  all  races  have  been  attracted  to  her 
because  of  the  thousands  of  opportunities  in  all  walks  of 
life. 

We  live  in  a  sordid  age  of  commercialism  suffering 
from  intense  neurasthenia.  We  have  made  our  factories 
and  our  places  of  business  our  temples.  We  have  en- 
throned the  dbllar-god,  and  fawning,  have  paid  worship 
to  it  seeking  its  gold  and  silver  in  return. 

It  has  been  said  by  an  English  philosopher  that  the 
optic  nerve  of  the  American  people  has  been  paralyzed 
by  the  glitter  of  gold.  That  is  true  of  Chicago.  It  is 
true  that  our  moral  sense  has  been  warped.     Morality 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY        9 

has  lost  its  value  except  as  it  subserves  our  financial 
and  material  interests. 

Vice  has  been  co-existent  with  human  consciousness. 
An  abuse  of  natural  laws  affecting-  the  race  through 
the  individual,  is  vice  in  its  broadest  interpretation.  In 
the  annals  of  the  world's  history  we  find  moral  degrada- 
tion triumphant  on  one  page  and  defeated  on  the  next. 
There  seems  to  be  a  constant  balancing  of  the  moral 
and  social  scale. 

In  all  ages  vice  has  been,  in  a  sense,  commercialized. 
The  vicious  have  always  lived  off  it,  fattened  upon  it, 
and  died  of  its  slow  insidious  poison. 

It  remained  for  this  industrial  and  much-vaunted  age 
systematically  to  commercialize  vice. 

Chicago  with  its  2,000,000  inhabitants,  its  vicious  ele- 
ment of  unfortunate  men  and  women,  its  haunts  of  deg- 
radation and  shame,  its  wealth  and  its  poverty,  and  its 
democratic  form  of  government,  was  the  experimental 
place  of  a  "scientific,"  systematized  commercialization 
of  sin. 

God  knows  and  men  are  beginning  to  realize  how 
well  the  experiment  has  succeeded ! 

There  is  no  excuse  or  reason  for  trumpeting  a  city's 
shame  if  the  conditions  are  simply  the  result  of  isolated 
vice  and  terrible  social  environments.  If  that  were  all, 
this  book  would  never  have  been  written. 

Tersely,  we  have  come  to  our  task  with  a  solemn 
duty  and  moral  obligation  in  our  heart,  mind  and  soul, 
viz : — 

To  show  the  world  at  large  that  Chicago  is  today 


10     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

the  Wickedest  City  in  the  World,  because  a  small  body 
of  men,  invested  with  a  sacred  power,  political  and 
social,  has  created  a  g'igantic  and  ever-growing  Vice 
Trust,  annually  becoming  richer  and  more  dangerous 
off  the  sins  and  crimes  of  degraded  men  and  abandoned 
women. 

It  is  our  intention  to  demonstrate  to  the  world  the 
machinations  of  the  corporation  of  crime,  its  political 
power,  its  enslavery  of  5,000  fallen  women  in  the  segre- 
gated districts  and  twice  as  many  more  at  large  within 
the  city,  its  annual  earnings  from  a  toleration  of  vice 
and  crime,  its  prostitution  of  the  police  department,  and 
its  hideous  and  myriad  ways  of  trapping  new  victims 
to  take  the  places  of  those  whom  it  had  driven  to 
despair  and  untimely  death. 

The  story  is  shocking  to  your  moral  sense ;  paralyzing 
to  your  brain ;  but  it  is  the  Truth.  It  should  be  known. 
Too  long  have  we  groped  blindly  in  the  dark.  An  hour 
of  awakening  is  needed. 

Vice  might  be  eradicated  if  the  vast  system,  whose 
existence  we  are  about  to  describe,  could  be  first  ob- 
literated. Unless  the  root  be  removed,  the  evil  will 
grow  rapidly  again,  despite  sincere  and  persistent  re- 
forms. It  is  our  intention  to  show  by  logical  narration 
of  facts  how  the  annual  tribute  paid  to  the  Vice  Trust 
for  protection  and  nourishment  by  the  hordes  of  living 
demons  in  the  city  of  Chicago  is  at  least  $15,000,000. 

The  life-blood  of  women,  bought  and  sold  on  the 
auction  block  of  the  Vice  Combine,  the  innocent  girls 
who  barter  their  lives  of  purity  for  a  sip  of  the  poison 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      11 

ofl  the  bitter  wine  of  life,  the  men  who  drag  the  shackles 
of  sin  on  their  limbs,  and  the  hellish  fiends  who  serve 
Satan  on  earth,  prostrate  before  the  directorate  of  the 
Vice  Trust,  offer  their  tribute  to  the  over  lords  of  the 
city's  degradation. 

This  book  is  not  the  fantastic,  lurid  picturing  of  the 
shames  of  women  and  the  crimes  of  men.  It  is  an 
expose  of  how  not  more  than  ten  men  whom  we  call 
the  Directorate  of  Ten,  create,  organize,  mobilize  and 
lead,  and  derive  almost  fabulous  profits  from,  an  army 
of  thousands  of  unfortunates. 

It  is  the  story  of  a  power  wrested  from  the  people 
at  the  debauched  ballot  boxes  and  used  as  the  weapon 
to  murder  men  and  women  annually.  This  is  not  the 
dream  of  an  overzealous  mind  seeking  sincerely  to  right 
a  terrible  wrong.  It  is  a  cold,  statistical  narration  of 
facts.  It  is  the  observations  of  one  who  for  ten  years 
has  studied  every  phase  of  the  demoniacal  system,  who 
has  been  intimately  associated  with  the  Directorate  of 
Ten,  who  has  stood  by  and  watched  the  never-ending 
procession  of  the  men  and  women  slaves  who  have  done 
the  monster's  bidding  and  fallen  inevitably  into  the 
charnal  houses  of  the  dead. 

The  average  Chicago  man  or  woman  knows  of  the 
thousand  and  one  forms  of  vice  that  flourish  in  Chicago, 
but  he  or  she  does  not  know  that  the  entire  vice  system 
works  in  harmony  like  the  most  delicate  piece  of 
mechanism.  The  voters  do  not  know  that  vice  is  more 
perfectly  organized  in  Chicago  today  than  any  corpo- 
ration in  existence.     The  writer  has  set  out  to  show  in 


12     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

the  glaring,  white  light  of  truth  the  real  causes  of  the 
present  social  evil. 

The  social  evil  today  does  not  find  its  ultimate  reason 
in  unrestrained  passions,  human  viciousness  and  weak- 
ness ;  it  finds  its  reason  in  the  commercialization  of  de- 
based creatures  and  the  enslavement  of  them  in  profit- 
ahle  labors  to  their  masters,  until  death. 

The  Vice  Trust  to  increase  constantly  its  profits  has 
a  thousand  lures  for  the  unwary.  The  masters  of  these 
infamous  pitfalls  are  the  lieutenants  of  this  monstrous 
trust.  The  writer  knows  of  ail  these  chasms  and  has 
studied  the  horrifying  details  of  the  men  and  women 
traps.  He  has  attempted  to  set  them  forth  and  nail  the 
sign  of  warning  above  them. 

The  wages  of  sin  is  Death !  If  once  a  woman  or 
a  man  is  enslaved  in  any  one  of  the  traps  set  by  the 
Vice  Trust  then  death  lies  at  the  end  of  a  short  path. 
Yearly,  thousands  of  young  and  pure  girls  and  ambitious 
and  clean  young  men,  come  to  Chicago  as  to  the  city 
of  dreams,  pleasure  and  glory.  Yearly,  thousands  are 
trapped  and  soon  pay  the  awful  penalty.  The  city  boy 
and  the  city  girl  are  not  immune.  Many  of  them  meet 
similar  fates.  If  the  writer  can  stem  the  rush  of  these 
young  souls  to  the  fires  of  living  hells  he  will  feel  well 
rewarded  for  his  task.  He  has  endeavored,  by  placing 
the  responsibility  for  the  social  evil  on  corrupt  politics 
that  has  created  a  grafting,  robbing,  and  murdering 
Vice  Trust,  to  put  the  subject  in  a  new  and  interesting 
light.  To  the  men  and  women  who  sleep  not,  because 
their  children,  young  and  undefiled,  are  growing  up 
within   the    reach   of   an    insatiable    monster,    does    the 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     13 

writer  particularly  appeal.  He  has  attempted  to  show 
that  the  Vice  Trust,  the  secret  cause  of  municipal  deg- 
radation, is  the  monster  that  must  be  annihilated. 

The  Chicago  police  department  is  an  inefficient  and 
corrupted  body  today,  that  is  protecting  vice  and  not 
destroying  it,  because  a  majority  of  its  members  are 
enslaved  by  the  Vice  Trust.  Every  vice,  every  sin, 
every  crime  has  its  price  of  toleration.  This  is  the 
reign  of  the  triumvirate  of  vice,  graft  and  political 
corruption. 

To  all  men  of  character  and  worth,  to  every  father 
and  every  mother  with  the  welfare  of  their  children 
at  heart,  the  writer  appeals  in  the  battle  against  this 
hideous  evil. 

One  soul  saved,  one  man  helped,  one  woman  turned 
from  the  pathway  of  hell  will  give  this  volume  a  human 
value.  The  author  in  conclusion  asks  a  thorough  con- 
sideration of  the  facts  related  and  hopes  that  all  to  whom 
this  book  may  come,  may  feel  its  message  of  truth  and 
join  the  ranks  of  the  army  of  righteous  men  and  women 
who  have  pledged  their  lives  to  make  Chicago  a  city 
after  man's  highest  conception,  a  place  where  our 
children  may  grow  to  maturity  imbued  with  the  spirit 
and  character  that  make  true  American  men  and  women. 


LOST  OPPORTUNITIES  OF  HISTORY. 


By   Courtesy   of   The   Chicago   Daily   News. 

WHAT  DANTE  MISSED. 


CHAPTER   I. 

The  Vice  Trust,  its  Kingdom 
and  its  Power. 

The    Story    of    Chicago's    Subjugation    to    Political    and 

Police    Corruption  —  The    Corrupt    Ballot    Box  — 

The  Mechanism  of  the   Trust  —  The   Prices 

of  Sin  and  Vice  —  The  Horror  of  Ruined 

and  Purchased  Lives  —  The  Remedy. 

Seventy-five  years  ago  a  body  of  pioneer  souls 
who  dared  death  for  the  dream  of  individual  liberty, 
wealth  and  happiness,  founded  a  city,  and  after  the 
manner  of  the  times,  adopted  an  Indian  name  and 
called  it  Chicago. 

The  city  grew,  prospered,  flourished ;  likewise  did 
the  inhabitants.  Nature  seemed  to  bless  all  who 
settled  within  her  boundaries.  Resources  undreamed 
of  were  discovered. 

The  lake  breezes  fanned  the  tiny  flame  of  future 
greatness  and  the  sun  warmed  the  ambitious  blood 
of  the  early  inhabitants.  She  became  the  golden  gate 
to  the  unexplored  West.  She  became  the  cosmopol- 
itan and  central  point  of  a  world  power.  Chicago 
was  talked  of,  considered,  bargained  with  from  East 
to  West,  and  North  to  South. 


16    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

With  vastness  came  power;  with  power,  abuse; 
with  abuse,  vice ;  with  vice,  crime ;  with  crime,  graft. 

It  is  of  Chicago,  TODAY,  we  write. 

Truth  sears,  eats,  destroys  that  which  is  but  veneer 
and  golden  covering. 

Chicago  has  bhnded  herself  to  the  hideous  truth. 
She  has  hidden  her  head,  closed  her  eyes  and  cried 
out: 

"I  will  not  see!" 

Vice,  like  some  slimy,  hideous,  mephitic,  green- 
eyed  monster  from  the  deepest  abyss  of  Hell  has 
crept,  sinuous  and  noiseless,  on  an  unsuspecting  people. 

It  has  battened  upon  red,  pure  life-blood.  It  has 
fattened  on  white  flesh.  It  has  destroyed  virginal 
purity,  public  morals  and   political  honesty. 

The  monster  has  been  insatiable.  Satan,  king  of 
the  damned  dead  since  the  Beginning,  urged  on  the 
monster  Vice. 

His  political  minions  kneeled  and  offered  sacrifice 
to  the  incarnate  Evil  of  the  World.  To  save  them- 
selves they  fed  him  of  the  rich  and  sacred  stores  of 
the  city.    They  took  their  portion. 

They  are  still  taking  their  share. 

They  still  feed  the  monster.  They  are  its  slaves; 
they,  appointed  by  the  people  to  safeguard  them  and 
to  make  their  laws. 

The  monster  Vice  is  fed  by  the  police  and  politi- 
cians, who,  under  cover  of  night  and  darkness,  plun- 
der, steal,  cheat  and  murder  to  satisfy  its  greed. 

We  speak  not  in  metaphor ;  this  is  the  literal  truth. 
We  shall  prove  it. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY       17 

If  Satan  came  out  of  the  depths  of  his  Inferno, 
away  from  the  shrieks  of  the  lost  miUions,  he  would 
wander   from  city  to  city  until  he  reached  Chicago. 

Then,  in  this  twentieth  century  of  culture,  refine- 
ment and  progress,  he  would  stand  outside  the  gates, 
smile  in  triumph  and  speak  this,  —  the  living,  shame- 
ful, naked  truth : 

This  is  the  CITY  ACCURSED !  This  is  the  CITY 
OF  THE  LIVING  DAMNED!  This  is  the  CITY 
OF  MY  DESIRE !  This  is  the  CITY  AFTER  MY 
OWN  HEART!  VICE,  CRIME,  CORRUPTION 
RULE :  —  MY  TRIUMVIRATE ! 

This  is  THE  MOST  WICKED  CITY  IN  THE 
WORLD ! 

Satan  would  tell  the  truth. 

Chicago  today  is  the  most  wicked  city  in  the  world. 

Babylon  had  its  vices ;  so,  too,  Alexandria.  Greece 
and  Rome  struggled  and  died  in  a  national  moral 
degeneracy  they  had  created. 

Chicago  has  surpassed  them  in  wickedness. 

Nay,  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  destroyed  by  the 
wrath  of  Heaven,  were  pure  when  compared  to 
Chicago. 

Paris  and  its  lure  of  vice  is  tame  by  the  side  of 
Chicago. 

There  is  no  parallel  in  history.  There  is  no  ade- 
quate comparison. 

Chicago  leads  the  world  in  evil  today.  She  stalks 
at  the  head  of  the  Army  of  Sin :  —  a  beautiful,  sen- 
suous mistress  and  paramour  to  a  personalized  god  of 
named  and  unnamed  Crime.     The  army  is  composed 


18     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

of  bodies  and  souls  that  Hell  has  claimed  but  not 
called.     Their  destinies  are  still  unfinished  on  earth. 

And  why  is  Chicago  the  Hell-hole  of  the  world? 

Because  she  has  taken  the  failings,  sins,  defects, 
crimes,  miseries  and  vices  of  humanity,  hurled  them 
into  a  seething  caldron  of  infamy,  melted  them,  amal- 
gamated them  and  commercialized  them. 

A  Vice-Graft  system  has  been  created.  It  has 
been  formed  along  the  lines  of  modern  commerce 
and  finance. 

Today  the  institution  is  stronger,  more  powerful, 
more  impregnable  than  the  biggest  financial  or  in- 
dustrial combine  in  the  United  States ! 

In  fact,  it  has  absorbed  many  and  invaded  myste- 
riously and  secretly  every  other  enterprise  founded 
on  decency  and  honesty.  It  is  living  off  every  legiti- 
mate trade,  business  and  industry  in  Chicago. 

That  is  the  limitless  scope  of  the  Vice  Trust  of 
Chicago,  unincorporated,  but  possessing  a  capital  run- 
ning high  into  the  millions  of  dollars  and  souls. 

There  are  three  stockholders,  speaking  in  a  col- 
lective sense,  in  Chicago's  Vice  Trust,  namely:  — 

The  inhabitants  of  the  highvv^ays  and  byways  and 
gilded  houses  of  infamy. 

The  police  department  of  the  city. 

A  coterie  of  politicians. 

These  form  the  board  of  directors  of  the  ruthless, 
merciless,  parasitic,  powerful  corporation  of  Vice, 
Graft,  Crime  &  Co. 

Scarcely  an  individual,  scarcely  an  industry  fails 
to   yield    its    life-Wood  to   that   infamous    trust!      It 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY       19 

feeds  like  a  great  octopus  on  the  entire  city.     Many 
of  us  are  its  unconscious  victims ! 

CHICAGO  — THE    LIVING,    BREATHING    HELL. 

"Leave  behind  all  hope,  all  ye  who  enter  here." 

Dante  dreamed  he  saw  that  line  above  the  fiery 
gates  of  Hell. 

To  those  who  know  and  understand,  that  line 
flames  as  if  written  by  the  fiery  finger  of  Fate,  in 
the  heavens  'above  Chicago. 

You,  all  of  you,  dwelling  without  its  polluted  pre- 
cincts, cannot  enter  it  without  being  trapped  into  the 
meshes  of  the  Vice-Graft  combine ! 

Spider-like,  it  has  woven  its  web  over  and  about 
the  city.  Enter  and  you  are  entangled,  consciously 
or  unconsciously. 

There  is  no  escape.  We  shall  prove  this  broad, 
sweeping  statement. 

From  the  depot  to  the  cab,  from  the  cab  to  the 
hotel,  from  the  hotel  to  the  dining  room,  barber  shop, 
manicure  room  or  other  places,  the  monster  trails 
you.  The  Vice  Trust's  agents  are  forever  lurking 
in  your  shadow. 

To  the  store,  place  of  business,  halls  of  amuse- 
ment, the  silent  form  sneaks  behind  you,  exacting  from 
you  a  toll  for  the  privilege  of  walking  the  streets  of 
Chicago  and  breathing  God's  free  air. 

When  you  leave  for  your  quiet,  peaceful  home- 
town, the  minions  of  the  trust  follow  you  almost  to 


20     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

the  sacred  entrance  of  an  undefiled  home.     Only  the 
sanctity,  purity  and  goodness,  stops  them  there. 
Such  is  the  system ! 

THE    SYSTEM    AND    ITS    CAUSES. 

Vice  is  co-existent  with  reason.  Vice  is  a  form 
of  the  aibuse  of  reason. 

As  the  city  grew  like  a  mushroom,  so  vice  grew. 
All  elements  were  attracted. 

Vice  crept  in,  grew  and  flourished.  Its  resources 
were  human  souls  and  bodies,  —  men  and  women. 

It  became  a  great,  eating,  nauseating,  foul-smell- 
ing ulcer  on  the  body  municipal. 

It  needed  control. 

Control  —  police  regulation  —  was  given  it.  Fla- 
grant, unblushing  vice  was  hidden  away  in  the  cov- 
ners  of  the  city,  to  fester  and  die  unseen. 

But  vice  never  dies.  It  lives  on  the  body  it  has 
destroyed.     Its  existence  is  parasitic. 

It  grew,  grew,  grew.  Then  like  a  many-armed 
octopus  it  stretched  out  and  out  about  it. 

Craven  souls,  dealing  with  it.  sworn  by  law  to 
slay  it,  felt  the  terror  of  death  upon  them.  Also, 
with    Satanic    insight   they    saw    the  — 

POSSIBILITIES! 

Gold!      Gold!      Luxury!      Power!      Wealth! 

Ever  since  the  beginning  we  have  cried  for  them, 
sinned   for  them. 

Here  was  the  chance. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      21 

THE  COMPACT  WRITTEN  IN  FLESH  AND  BLOOD. 

"Let  the  creature  Vice  live  and  thrive,  but  give 
us  part  of  the  red  blood  and  white  flesh  of  its  vic- 
tims"—  was  the  thought. 

The  politician  savv'  the  opportunity.  He  could  not 
evolve  the  scheme  without  the  aid  of  the  police,  so 
he  confessed  his  conceived  crime.  The  police  con- 
sented. Then  the  leaders  of  the  cohorts  of  vice  were 
told  of  the  combine  and  its  ultimatum.  They,  too, 
consented. 

"Give  us  part  of  the  blood  and  flesh  money  and 
you  may  live  and  we  will  protect  you." —  said  the 
politicians  and  the  police  officials. 

Out  of  the  cavernous  depths  of  Chicago's  Hell, 
w^here  thousands  yearned  to  be  free  to  sow  death 
without  hindrance,  came  the  fiendish  answer :  — 

"WE  WILL!" 

The  compact  was  written  in  letters  of  blood. 
Thousands  gave  up  health,  happiness  and  life  to 
launch  the  \^ice  Trust. 

Today  it  is  in  its  zenith  ! 

Competition  has  been  a  factor  in  making  and 
completing  its  triumph. 

We  have  spoken  collectively  of  the  Vice  Trust 
organization. 

THE  DIRECTORATE  OF  GRAFT,  CRIME  AND 
CORRUPTION. 

Individually,  today,  ten  powerful  politicians  lay 
down  the  law.  exact  the  toll,  distribute  it.  after  taking 


22     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

their  major  share,  pass  sentence  of  Hfe  and  death 
on  good  and  bad,  direct  the  huge  and  intricate  ma- 
chinery, pay  off  the  hundreds  of  employes,  —  prin- 
cipally members  of  the  police  department,  —  high  and 
low,  and  plan  to  enlarge  and  strengthen  the  greatest, 
strangest  and  most  complex  organization  in  the 
world. 

It  is  the  Directorate  of  Ten ! 

They  have  divided  the  city  between  them  and 
their  vassals.  They  are  the  rulers  of  the  mysterious 
underworld,  living  like  princes  and  rulers  in  the  white 
palaces  of  the  overworld,  surfeited  with  the  heavy 
luxuries  of  life. 

POLITICS,    POLICE   AND   VICE. 

^litical  power  is  the  greatest  of  all  power.  It 
can  subjugate  with  iron  hand  all  other  powers. 

The  Directorate  of  Ten  found  willing  agents  in 
the  police  department  of  Chicago.  It  has  them  today, 
and  if  needs  be,  can  find  more.  Human  souls  are 
easily  purchased. 

Today  the  system  is  intricate.  So  intricate  that 
the  combine  has  received  the  appellation,  —  the  Vice 
Sysitem. 

To  exist,  vice,  in  any  one  of  its  thousand  forms, 
must  pay  tribute.  The  tribute  is  shared  with  the 
police  for  protection. 

Many  police  inspectors,  captains,  lieutenants,  ser- 
geants and  patrolmen  receive  portions. 
^  Segregation,    flaunted   to   the   world    as    the   best 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY.     23 

remedy  yet  found  for  the  social  evil,  is  but  a  lie  on 
the  part  of  the  Vice  Trust.  ^ 

Only  a  portion  of  the  unit  Vice  is  kept  within 
the  limits  of  four  "redlight"  districts.  The  rest 
stalks  the  streets,  free,  robbing  its  victims  in  the  glare 
of  the  noon-day  sun. 

The  lost  women-souls  of  the  levees  are  but  a 
pitiful  and  small  part  of  the  army  of  Vice.  They 
simply  dwell  in  the  rendezvous  of  the  thousands 
who  live  by  infamy. 

FOR    EACH    CRIME    A    PRICE! 

From  all  vice-sources  tribute  is  exacted  monthly 
by  the  police  themselves  or  by  the  low,  inhuman 
collectors  of  the  Vice  Trust. 

Every  vice  has  its  price  of  "toleration  for  exist- 
ence !  ' 

Every  possible  violation  of  the  law,  the  powers 
that  be  will  wink  at  at  so  much  per  wink ! 

All  this  infamy,  —  this  protection  of  crime  and 
reeking   corruption,    exists   today    in    Chicago. 

THE  ATTACK  UPON  THE  TRUST. 

The  Civil  Service  Commission  of  Chicago  at- 
tacked the  bulwarks  of  the  Trust  of  Crime. 

The  police  department  was  the  point  of  assault. 
Several  officials  were  discharged  for  incompetency 
and  inefficiency.  Had  they  destroyed  that  Satanic 
allegiance  the  backbone  of  tire  Combine  might  have 
been  broken. 

Chicago  stood  paralyzed  a't  the  revelations.     The 


24     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

truth  was  murderous  in  its  hideous  nakedness.  No 
one  had  ever  dreamed  of  the  scope  of  its  business 
—  the  vice  business. 

The  unholy  alliance  struggled  to  outlive  the  attack. 
Back  on  to  the  weak,  narrow  shoulders  of  unsys- 
tematized infamy  the  politicians  and  the  police  threw 
the  blame. 

The  network  of  vice,  the  spiderweb  of  crime, 
the  intricate  working  of  the  System,  the  collusion  of 
vice-parasites  and  political  and  police  magnates  have 
become  known.  The  story  has  more  interest  than 
a  novel  born  of  the  imagination  of  genius ;  more  lure 
than  the  best  detective  story  ever  penned ;  more  fas- 
cination than  any  page  in  ancient  or  modern  lit- 
erature ;  because  it  is  palpitating,  aching  present  day 
truth.  Because  it  is  a  living  fact.  Because  it  is  an 
"elbow  to  elbow"  condition.  Because  it  is  the  story' 
of  a  great  city,  lost  to  goodness,  and  won  to  wicked- 
ness. 

It  is  the  story  of  Chicago! 

The  hideous  ulcer  is  no  longer  concealed.  It 
festers  no  longer  in  the  dark.  Its  poison  seeths  in 
the  searing  light  of  inquiry. 

THE   VICE-GRAFT    CIRCLE: —  WITHOUT    BEGIN- 
NING,   WITHOUT    END. 

Political  power  to  become  absolutism  without  dan- 
ger of  extinction  needs  strong,  imperishable  founda- 
tions. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY.      25 

To  hold  vice-control  meant  to  rule  a  vice  territory 
with  iron  hand. 

It  was  accomplished. 

THE  BALLOT:  — THE  SECRET  OF  VICE  POWER. 

This  is  the  way  it  was  done  and  still  is  being 
done.  Take  those  political  precincts  within  whose 
boundaries  the  "redlig-ht"  districts  exact  their  toll 
from  the  thousands  of  unfortunate  souls,  who  live  in 
the  iniquitous  Hell-holes  or  haunt  them  in  search  of 
pleasure. 

Political  powers  were  busy  systematizing.     Elec- 
tions threatened  to  defeat  them  and  kill  their  plans. 
The  ballot  box  was  the  salvation. 
The  prostitution  of  ithe  ballot  came  into  existence 
and   lives   and    flourishes    today,    the    primal   blot   on 
Chicago's  once  honorable  escutcheon! 

To  gain  an  election,  to  hold  political  and  vice- 
power  the  ballot  box  was  and  is  stuffed  by  a  subtle 
and    almost   unpunishable  method. 

A  district,  by  way  of  example,  is  populated  by  a 
floating  and  transient  element,  brought  into  Chicago 
by  the  agents  of  the  corrupt  or  drawn  here  by  promises 
of  lucrative  gain. 

These  men  are  used  to  stuff  the  ballot  boxes  and 
secure  a  victory  of  crime,  sin  and  iniquity. 

On  the  South  Side  there  are  scores  of  hotels, 
whose  standard  and  character  are  written  in  unmis- 
taken  language  on  their  very  exteriors.  These  also 
exist  on  the  West  and  North  sides  of  the  city. 


26     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

The  assignation  houses  and  the  cheap  lodging 
houses  are  the  media  for  slaying  the  honest  ballot. 

Men,  brought  to  the  city  to  corrupt  elections, 
register  in  these  places  under  the  names  of  prostitutes 
and  absent  inmates  and  under  this  guise,  cast  polluted 
votes. 

THE  BALLOT-CONTROL  OF  VICE. 

One  man  on  election  day  can  easily  cast  ten  votes 
under  ten  names  of  ten  dissolute  women,  who  live 
in  the  hotels  under  cognomens,  giving  initials  for 
their  first  names. 

One  hundred  men  can  cast  i,ooo  illicit  votes.  That 
is   sufficient   to  carry   an   aldermanic   election. 

One  thousand  men  can  cast    10,000  ballots ! 

That,  in  a  pinch,  could  sweep  honesty  from  the 
highest  office  in  the  city,  and  crown  a  Vice  Trust 
vassal,  —  mayor ! 

This  is  how  the  Vice  Trust  wields  the  balance 
of  power  in  Chicago,  a  power  that  can  crush  any 
business,  any  man,  can  remove  to  the  "woods"  any 
policeman  or  police  official  who  refuses  to  obey  its 
decrees,  and  so  on  without  limit. 

Destroy  this  and  Chicago  might  once  more  rear 
her  head  in  pride.  It  is  the  clutch  that  sets  in  motion 
all  the  machinery  of  evil. 

Wreck  that  clutch  and  the  delicate,  subtle  mech- 
anism of  concerted   crime  would  disintegrate. 

Chicago  is  blind  to  the  terrible  evil  of  the  plethoric 
ballot  box,  but  the  eyes  of  thousands  are  being  slowly 
opened. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY.     27 

The  "prostitute-repeating-"  system  is  but  one  of 
the  means  employed  to  gain  and  sustain  poHtical 
control.  Hundreds  of  other  methods  are  in  vogue 
today  and  working  their  evil  effects. 

"Stamp  out  Vice  and  Evil.  Eliminate  the  red- 
lighted,  tinsel  Houses  of  Shame ;  give  our  city  to 
God." 

This  is  the  cry  of  the  churches,  led  by  their 
praiseworthy  pastors. 

Oh,  ye  with  eyes  that  see  not,  and  ears  that  are 
deaf  to  the  voices  of  hell,  strike  now  and  strike  hard. 

But  strike  not  at  the  thousands  of  fallen  women, 
nor  at  the  brothel  keepers,  nor  at  the  dive  owners,  nor 
at  the  panderers,  not  yet,  at  least. 

STRIKE,  FIRST,  AT  THE  POLITICAL  SYS- 
TEM THAT  CONTROLS  ALL  AND  REIGNS 
OVER  ALL. 

Destroy  the  foundation  and  the  superstructure  will 
topple  over  of  itself. 

Break  the  power  that  begins  and  ends  at  the 
ballot  box.  Break  the  power  that  sucks  at  the  veins 
of  the  myriad  army  of  the  lost,  and  lives  on  the  white 
ways  of  decency. 

That  is  the  evil!     Kill  it! 

In  showing  the  Unbroken  Circle  of  Iniquity  we 
have  shown  where  the  control  of  crime  is  begotten,. 

And  now  the  parts,  interlocked  so  finely  that  the 
connecting  points  are  lost,  are  to  be  revealed. 

Once  political  power  is  assured,  all  else  is  inevit- 
able by  the  nature  of  things. 


28     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

THE  POLICE   COLLECTORS. 

The  political  power  finds  its  agents.  They  are  of 
necessity,   the  police.     Willing  spirits   are   found. 

The  guardians  of  the  law  and  public  safety  are 
hired  out  by  the  political  kings  to  collect  their  tolls 
from  their  sycophants  and  vassals. 

Chicago  policemen,  high  and  low,  —  we  venture 
to  say  eighty  per  cent  of  them,  — -  are  today  by  virtue 
of  the  collection  and  itribute  system  the  confederates 
of  every  species  of  criminal,  of  every  exploiter  of 
every  known  kind  of  vice. 

They  aid,  abet  and  allow  these  law  violators  to 
thrive. 

Vice  and  crime  must  pay  its  tribute  to  the  police. 
The  police  must  turn  over  the  bulk  of  the  proceeds 
to  their  political  masters.  No  criminal  can  continue 
in  his  nefarious  business  without  paying  the  price. 
It  is  called  Police  Protection. 

That  is  the  blind.  In  reality  it  is  Political  Protec- 
tion. The  police  are  but  the  body  guard,  the  secret 
service  of  the  corrupt  — 

Directorate  of  Ten. 

Under  Police  Protection,  for  so  many  dollars  per 
day,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  crime-business 
being  carried  on,  every  form  of  vice  flaunts  itself  in 
the  face  of  Chicago's  2,000,000  inhabitants  and  its 
thousands  of  country  visitors. 

It  is  no  secret.  Chicago  knows.  But  she  has 
failed  to  observe  the  reason,  and  to  open  her  eyes 
is  the  mission  of  this  book. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY.      29 

THE   PRICE   OF   CRIME: —  $15,000,000   A   YEAR! 

F'rom  the  army  of  vice  the  yearly  tribute  to  the 
Directorate  of  Ten  —  the  controlHng  power  —  is  al- 
most unbeHevable. 

The  figures  stagger  one. 

With  reserve,  noit  exaggeration,  we  make  this 
statement :  — 

Chicago's  vice  legion  yields  for  existence  and  for 
protection  the  sum  of  — 

$15,000,000  annually. 

Think  of  it!  Crime  pays  that  fortune  to  exist 
and  rob  the  public  of  more  money. 

We  are  not  dealing  with  the  thieving  contractors 
who  rob  the  citizens  through  fixed  contracts.  We 
treat  only  of  the  crime  that  the  police  are  sworn 
to  slay. 

$15,000,000  put  into  the  coffers  of  men  supposed 
to  be  representing  the  people  that  the  donors  may 
go  on  destroying  the  souls  and  bodies  of  women, 
the  souls  and  bodies  of  men ! 

That  astounding  offering  to  appease  the  human 
Juggernauts  and  to  sow  in  the  youths  'and  maidens 
of  our  nation  the  seeds  of  incurable  diseases ! 

That  sum  in  the  blood-stained  hands  of  dema- 
gogues to  blast  a  city's  decency  and  prosperity  and 
to  eat  into  the  very  vitals  of  our  Republic ! 

In  small  envelopes,  dirty  and  diseased,  bacteria- 
bearing  paper  money  and  grimy  silver  are  handed  in 
the  dark  or  the  light  to  policemen  or  outside  col- 
lectors to  be  turned  over  to  the  Directorate  of  Ten. 

Let    the    figure   $15,000,000    in   tribute   bum    into 


30     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

the  recesses  of  your  brain  if  you  would  realize  the 
gigantic  and  almost  indescribable  character  of  crime 
in  Chicago. 

It  is  estimated  thait  the  $15,000,000  annual  vice 
tribute  is  less  than  half  a  year's  aggregate  earnings. 

Do  you  realize  that  $15,000,000  is  five  per  cent 
of  $300,000,000? 

A    VICE    CAPITAL    OF    FLESH    AND    BLOOD. 

Think  of  it ! 

Almost  half  a  billion  dollars ! 

But  the  capital  in  this  business  is  not  so  many 
dollars.  It  is  human  flesh,  human  souls,  human  blood ! 
Can  they  be  measured  in  dollars? 

There  is  no  capital  in  this  hideous  trust  that  stands 
in  banks.  The  real  capital  must  be  turned  over  and 
over.  The  exhausted  bodies  of  men  and  women  fill 
the  incurable  disease  wards  of  the  hospital,  the  crip- 
pled and  broken  down  inhabit  the  shacks  of  the  tene- 
ments, and  thousands  are  buried  in  paupers'  graves. 

This  is  the  price  of  the  slaves ! 

There  is  nothing  but  the  world  of  infamy.  Nothing 
but  the  aching,  diseased  bodies  of  women.  Nothing 
but  the  outraged  purity  of  childhood.  Nothing  but 
the  toiling,  unrestrained  passions  of  fiends.  Nothing 
but  the  lust  that  is  insatiable,  the  desire  that  fattens 
on  the  poisons  it  eats. 

After  years  of  investigation,  acquiring  informa- 
tion from  politicians,  police  officials  and  their  sub- 
ordinates, gamblers,  habitues  of  the  levees,  and  nearly 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY.     31 

five  hundred  more  vassals  of  the  vice  trust,  we  have 
placed  the  protection  figure  at  $15,000,000. 

Attorney  W.  \V.  Wheelock,  counsel  for  the  Civil 
Service  Commission  and  the  man  who  attempted  to 
break  up  the  Vice-Police-Political  graft  combine,  in 
speaking  of  this  subject,  said : 

"I  have  as  yet  only  scratched  the  veneer  and  the 
surface  of  this  terrifying  evil,  but  the  results  have 
made  me  reel  in  horror  and  amazement.  At  this  time 
I  estimate  that  the  yearly  graft  is  $15,000,000. 

"The  true  figure,  when  all  things  are  considered, 
must  run  far  above  that.  It  is  evident  that  at  least 
eighty  per  cent  of  the  police,  at  some  time  or  other, 
are  grafters.  The  system  of  tribute  and  graft  bur- 
rows into  every  legitimate  pursuit  and  finds  some 
undreamed  of  channel  of  graft." 

And  Ellis  Geiger,  an  alderman,  made  an  astound- 
ing statement  in  full  council  session,  when  ithe  subject 
of  appropriation  to  aid  in  the  police  graft  investiga- 
tion was  before  that  body.     He  said :  — 

"From  the  reports  of  investigators  and  men  who 
have  knowledge  of  conditions  in  our  city,  vice  pays 
tribute  of  $15,000,000  annually  to  the  police  for  its 
liberty  of  existence." 

Both  these  men  are  citizens  of  high  icpute,  men 
of  intelligence  and  understanding.  Bodi  have  placed 
the  vice-graft  at  a  tremendous  figure,  but  thev  have 
not  carefully  studied  all  the  sources  of  collection. 
These  when  considered,  make  $15,000,000  a  very  con- 
servative estimate. 


32     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

What  must  be  the  murderous  heart  and  the 
demon's  soul  of  a  monster  that  is  wilHng  to  pay  such 
a  price  to  wallow  in  the  trough  of  moral  filth  and 
physical  bestialiity  ! 

THE  EVILS   OF  A  WORLD  IN  A   MELTING  POT. 

"Name  a  vice,  a  crime,  a  sin,  that  was  known  from 
the  Beginning  to  the  present  day,  and  I'll  show  it 
to  you  in  Chicago  today." 

Several  years  ago  when  the  agents  of  the  system 
were  bolder  in  their  depravity,  a  "guide"  stood  outside 
the  Polk  street  depot,  waited  for  the  "gentlemen  of 
the  long  green"  and  excited  curiosity  by  the  above 
pronouncement. 

He  could  truthfully  shout  it  from  the  housetops 
today. 

To  it  he  would  add,  if  he  were  to  tell  the  entire 
truth :  — 

"I  will  show  you  not  only  every  crime,  but  I  will 
tell  you  the  price  of  its  existence  paid  to  members 
of  Chicago's  police  department,  and  other  collectors 
of  the  Vice  Trust." 

Search  and  you  can  find :  — 

Salient  shows,  obscene  amusement  houses,  houses 
of  prostitution,  segregated  and  otherwise,  fashionable 
"flats"  in  choice  neighborhoods,  dens  of  reeking  in- 
famy for  the  congregation  of  humanity's  lowest  dregs, 
rendezvous  for  degenerate  white  women  and  negro 
men,  clubs  and  resorts  where  degeneracy  in  its  most 
revolting  forms  are  practiced,  professional  beggars, 
rich    pickpockets,    pretty    shoplifters,    leering    street- 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY.      33 

walkers,  cocaine,  morphine  and  opium  dens,  fajce 
palmists  and  fortune  tellers,  and  gambling  in  its 
hundreds  of  luring,  deceptive  forms. 

That  is  Chicago's  generic  crime  list.  If  we  omit, 
name  the  sin  and  it  can  be  found.  That  is  the  army 
that  pays  the  graft  to  the  police  and  other  creatures 
of  the  Vice  Trust. 

Then,  there  are  walking  the  streets  of  Chicago, 
known  to  the  police,  a  score  of  bomb  throwers,  men 
under  pay  of  the  gamblers,  who  have  the  police  as 
partners,  who  threw  over  half  a  hundred  bombs  that 
destroyed  nearly  $1,000,000  worth  of  property. 

THE  UNDERWORLD  CONTRIBUTORS. 

Two  thousand   gamblers   pay  their  blood  money. 

Five  thousand  women,  offered  as  slaves  on  the 
auction  block  of  prostitution,  give  their  lives  to  make 
up  the  hellish  tolls. 

More  than  five  hundred  keepers  of  houses  of  ill 
fame  contribute  their  blood-dripping  dollars. 

Owners  of  five  hundred  "flats"  or  assignation 
houses  pay  their  "life-price." 

We  have  said  that  every  form  of  evil  exists.  We 
shall  show  in  this  book  the  amounts  of  money  paid 
by  the  minions  and  promoters  of  each  vice  for  police 
and  political  protection. 

Our  figures  are  accurate.  They  are  founded  on 
the  statements   of  men   who  once   paid  blood-money 


34     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

1 
to  live.     They  are  the  prices  demanded  ^by  the  Vice 

Trust  today. 

The  graft  scale  is  so  astonishing  as  to  be  almost 
unbelievable. 

Cold  figures  are  set  down  by  the  over  lords ;  cold 
dollars  are  paid  by  the  lawless.  Failure  to  pay  means 
ruin.  Grace  is  rarely  given.  The  new  man  or  woman 
seeking  to  open  a  vice-business  must  pay  a  high  en- 
trance fee  to  the  political  powers.  Their  protection 
price  is  always  higher  than  that  exacted  from  the 
"old  timers."  The  more  hideous  the  crime-business 
the  higher  the  protective  compensation  for  it.  The 
greater  the  profits  accruing,  the  more  the  weight  of 
the  gold  and  silver  poured  into  the  coffers  of  the 
corrupt  politicians  and  their  allies. 

In  the  white  palaces  of  hidden  sin,  where  de- 
generacy boasts  of  its  infamous  acts,  and  where  men 
of  wealth  and  women  of  fashion  congregate  to  turn 
loose  their  insane  lusts  without  fear  of  detection  or 
restraint,  the  price  of  existence  runs  into  the  thou- 
sands   of  dollars. 

In  several  vice  emporiums,  fitted  as  sumptuously 
as  the  homes  of  millionaires  on  Lake  Shore  Drive, 
the  protection  for  traffic  in  white,  delicate  and  beauti- 
ful bodies  of  young  girls  is  $i,ooo  a  month! 

From  the  elegantly  furnished  roulette  parlor  to 
the  den  of  quarreling,  cursing  negroes  in  the  "black- 
belt," —  from  the  highest  place  of  gaming  to  the  low- 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY.     35 

est  —  the  price  to  go  on  filching  thousands  of  men 
and  women  is  paid,  and  paid  wilHngly. 

THE   WHITE   SLAVE   TRAFFIC   ANDS    ITS   LIFE- 
PRICE. 

The  White  Slave  Traffic  —  the  most  infamous, 
foulest,  lowest  and  destructive  feature  of  Chicago's 
wickedness,  —  pays  a  terrible  price  to  the  lords  of 
the  underworld. 

Police  protection  is  granted  it  at  terrible  risk  to 
the  police  and  politicians  themselves.  For  this  reason 
the  price  is  high. 

We  all  know  what  the  White  Slave  Traffic  signi- 
fies. 

In  a  word  it  is :  — 

The  buying,  by  insidious  means,  of  thousands  of 
pure,  trusting  and  innocent  girls,  the  casting  of  them 
into  the  horrifying  flesh  markets  and  the  auctioning 
of  them  to  infamous,  polluted  and  brutal  slave  masters 
and  mistresses  for  a  blood  price. 

It  is  the  desecration  of  virginal  sanctity.  The 
bartering  of  women-souls  for  dollars. 

It  is  the  tearing  away  of  beautiful  girls  from  their 
parents  and  the  fireside,  and  the  thrusting  of  them 
into  living  hells. 

IT  IS  SLOW,  SURE  MURDER! 

AND  THIS  REEKING,  DASTARDLY  IN- 
FAMY HAS  ITS  PRICE  ?  GOD !  WHAT  A  SAC- 
RILEGE ! 

Of  this  evil  and  its  relation  to  the  Vice  Trust  we 
shall  speak  at  length  in  a  separate  chapter. 


36     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

PROTECTION    PRICES    OF   ALL   VICES. 

And  now  here  are  some  startling  figures.  We  will 
tabulate  them,  so  they  will  leave  their  proper  im- 
pression. 

THE   LIST.  Tribute 

Houses  of  Prostitution —  per  month 

Those   known  as   "dollar"   houses $20.00 

"Two  and  three  dollar"  houses  (for  each  inmate)  $25.00 

"Five  dollar"  houses   (for  each  inmate) $35.00 

"Ten  dollar"  houses    (for  each  inmate) $40.00 

Fashionable  "flats" $25.00  to  $500.00 

Assignation  hotels $25.00  to  $500.00 

High  class   houses  where  rich   old  men   bring 

young   girls   of  virtue $500.00   to  $1,000.00 

Dives    of  vice   where   whites   and    blacks    mix....   $200.00 

Saloons    with    women    "hustlers" $100.00 

Cafes  with  "hustlers"  (of  prosperous  trade)  $100  to  $300.00 

Infamous  dance  halls $50.00 

Infamous    dance    halls,    extra    for    immoral    dances   $50.00 

All-night    saloons $50.00 

Obscene   acting  in   houses   of   ill   fame  $200.00  to   $500.00 

Handbooks  and  poolrooms 50  per  cent 

Faro  games 50  per  cent 

Stuss  ("Jewish  poker") 50  per  cent 

Poker  and  other  games 50  per  cent 

Crap  games 50  per  cent 

Gambling  houses  with  all  games 50  per  cent 

Chinese  gambling  of  all  sorts 50  per  cent 

Opium  dens $50.00 

Cocaine  and   morphine    selling $100.00 

Manicure  and  massage  parlors  where  the  women 

employes  are  really  prostitutes $100.00 

Pickpockets  and  confidence  men not  definite 

Street  walkers,  or  "hustlers' $20.00  to  $50.00 

Professional  bondsmen 50  per  cent 

Burglars  and  dynamiters not  obtainable 

"Vampire"  Trust,   (m  mbers  of  which  are  women 

preying  on  patrons  of  fashionable  hotels)   50  per  cent 

Professional  beggars not  definite 

Fake  street  hawkers per  day,  $5.00 

Kimona  Trust  (to  be  explained  later) 66  per  cent 

Laundry  Trust 50  per  cent 

"Cadets,"  or  "pimps" not  definite 

Chop   Suey  restaurants  in  certain   districts $25.00 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY.     37 

Such'  is  the  record  of  vice  and  crime  and  it  is 
not  complete.  Such  is  the  record  as  it  appears  on 
the  debtors'  pages  of  the  Vice  Trust. 

Hundreds  of  petty  forms  of  infamy  have  a  price. 
Other  crime-trades  pay,  but  the  prices  cannot  be 
learned  or  estimated,  so  intricate  are  the  workings 
of  the  vicious  combine. 

What  do  the  agents  of  the  White  Slave  TrafTic 
pay  to  barter  body  and  blood? 

The  trust  has  the  secret  blood  price.  Investiga- 
tion by  the  state,  city  and  particularly  the  federa' 
government,  has  shown  its  existence.  The  monthly 
figure  must  be  upwards  of  $10,000. 

SIDE   ISSUES   IN  THE  VICE   GRAFT. 

Nothing  is  consumed  by  the  slaves  of  crime, 
nothing  is  used  or  even  wasted  that  does  not  hand 
over  its  pittance  to  the  avaricious  over  lords. 

We  shall  give  specific  instances  of  the  far-reach- 
ing, grasping  power  of   the   trust  to  collect. 

In  the  South  side  "redlight"  district  but  one  brand 
of  whiskey  can  be  sold  today. 

The  Directorate  of  Ten  has  so  ordered. 

Why? 

Because  a  politician  has  the  controlling  interest 
in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  a  certain  brand  of 
w'hiskey.  Therefore,  that  is  the  kind  of  whiskey 
sold.  It  is  as  logical  as  all  things  in  the  harmonious 
and  well-oiled  system.  Xo  keeper  of  a  house  of 
ill  fame,  no  bloated,  blear-eyed  saloonkeeper  of  the 
district  would  offer  any  other  brand.     Wisely,  if  not 


38     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

honestly,  another  capitalist  of  the  vice-corporation 
has  bought  up  a  cigarette  concern.  He  makes  and 
sells  a  poisonous,  brain  and  moral-destroying  cigar- 
ette. Ask  for  cigarettes  in  any  den  of  infamy  in  the 
levees  of  the  city,  and  this  brand  will  be  forced  on 
you.  Per'haps  if  you  strongly  protest,  you  can  obtain 
some  other  brand,  but  your  protest  must  be  loud  and 
insistent. 

Once  more  is  evidenced  the  overwhelming,  over- 
reaching power  of  operative  and  unified  lawlessness. 

Another  member  of  the  Trust  has  sunk  his  crime- 
tainted  dollars  into  a  taxi-cab  concern.  The  corpora- 
tion must  yield  a  profitable  harvest. 

Result:  The  man,  who  after  satisfying  his  lust 
and  passions,  drunk  with  the  wine  he  has  paid  dearly 
for,  and  exhausted  from  a  repulsive  debauch,  is  put 
into  a  taxi-cab  and  driven  away  from  a  "redlight" 
resort.  That  taxi-cab  belongs,  through  invested 
capital,  to  a  member  of  the  Crime  Directorate.  Again 
the  shadow  of  the  monster. 

If  a  business  man  engages  in  the  manufacture  of 
gambling  paraphernalia  he  looks  for  a  market, — 
usually  the  saloon  or  dive.  When  he  seeks  contracts 
he  is  told: 

"Better  see  the  boss." 

He  sees  him.  He  pays  him,  and  then  he  installs 
his  machines  at  will,  even  over  the  protest  of  resort 
keepers. 

Again  the  hidden  graft  channel. 

Hundreds  of  pounds  of  opium  are  smuggled  into 
Chicago  yearly.     The  opium  dens  pay  their  protec- 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY.      39 

tion  price,  but  long  before  that  the  policeman  has 
held  out  his  hand  behind  his  back,  accepted  the  graft 
from  the  "importer"  and  sent  him  on  to  sow  a  slow 
death  to  thousands  through  the  petals  of  the  poppy 
bud. 

THE    QUACK    DOCTORS    OF    CHICAGO. 

The  city  is  overrun  with  quack  doctors.  Sensa- 
tional and  horrifying  signs  adorn  their  windows,  they 
advertise  their  "cures"'  in  the  columns  of  the  daily 
newspapers.  ^-Jfhey  are  the  destroyers  of  health  in- 
stead of  the  givers  of  strong  physiques  and  clear 
minds.Ji  Their  prey  is,  in  the  most  part,  out-of-town 
men  and  women  and  the  illiterate  of  the  city,  who 
suffer,  or  fear  they  are  the  victims  of  unmentionable 
diseases. 

Do  they  fatten  on  the  proceeds  of  this  crime,  free 
of  trust-tribute? 

Far  from  it.  They  pay  a  stipend  from  the  fee 
wrung  from  the  unfortunates  who  enter  their  labora- 
tories of  crime. 

The  professional  bondsmen,  usually  "lieutenants" 
or  friends  of  the  men  "higher  up"  are  useful  assets 
in  times  of  emergency.  When  the  outlook  is  dull,  when 
the  collection  days  are  far  away,  they  do  good  service, 
aided  by  members  of  the  police  department. 

Suppose  an  unfortunate  cesspool  has  failed  to 
meet  its  obligations  to  the  vice  lords.  As  a  result 
the  police  are  ordered  by  the  "powers"  to  raid  it. 
They  do  so.  At  least  a  score  of  men  are  caught  in 
the  net.    The  professional  bondsman  signs  their  bonds 


40     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

at  a  price  ranging  from  $5  to  $25  each.  The  bonds- 
man  retains  a  small  percentage,  as  also  the  police. 
The  rest  goes  to  the  vice  rulers. 

THE  KIMONA  TRUST  AND  THE  VAMPIRE  TRUST. 

The  light,  cheap  and  thin  apparel  worn  by  the 
lost  women  of  the  dens  of  pollution  contribute  their 
small  share  to  buy  diamonds  for  the  vice-magnates. 

There  is  a  vice-asset  called  the  "Kimona  Trust." 
Every  stitch  of  clothing  worn  by  the  women  denizens 
of  the  underworld  is  made  and  sold  by  its  agents. 

For  that  trade  it  pays  a  regular  and  definite 
tribute. 

We  could  go  on  enumerating  indefinitely  and  never 
reach  an  end  . 

Graft,  graft,  —  every  kind  from  every  dreamed-of 
source ! 

The  Vampire  Trust  is  one  of  the  novelties  of 
Chicago's  crime-world.  It  is  of  recent  creation.  It 
is  a  subsidiary  corporation  of  the  "big  combine." 

One  hundred  women,  it  is  estimated,  form  its 
rank  and  file.  They  are  women  of  luring,  attractive 
appearance,  insidious  "good-fellows,"  smartly  edu- 
cated and  vice's  students  of  human  nature. 

Like  vultures  they  prey  on  Chicago's  Wealthy 
visitors.  They  infest  the  lobbies,  restaurants  and 
cafes  of  Chicago's  most  exclusive  hotels.  They  search 
out  their  victims,  wile  them  away  from  business  cares 
by  sensuous  charms,  take  them  "slumming,"  drug 
them  and  rob  them. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY.     41 

Then  they  divide  their  illgotten  gains  with  their 
protectors. 

Then,  too,  there  is  the  "hotel  thieves  combine." 
It  is  estimated  that  more  than  $i,ooo  worth  of  valu- 
ables is  stolen  from  the  hotels  in  a  month. 

Bell  hoys  are  numbered  among  the  hotel  thieves. 
The  police  watch  them  and  follow  them  to  the 
"fences"  — the  places  where  the  stolen  property  is 
sold  for  less  than  one  half  its  value.  Once  more  the 
trust  does  its  work.  The  "fence"  manager  must  pay 
tribute  or  go  to  jail.     He  pays,  of  course. 

That  is  the  story  of  GRAFT,  its  origin,  source 
and  magnitude. 

WHEN    AND    WHERE    WILL    IT    END? 

In  the  most  defiled  pages  of  the  world's  history, 
can  you  find  a  parallel? 

It  is  not  brutal,  primitive,  disorganized,  heter- 
ogenous vice  and  crime,  such  as  inoculated  nations 
that  crumbled  to  decay ;  it  is  systema.tized,  organized, 
commercialized  corryptip^. 

"""ft  begins  with  the  power  created  at  a  debauched 
ballot  box! 

It  ends  —  ?     God  alone   can   tell   where   it  ends ! 

THE    MEAGER    PURCHASE-PRICE    OF    POLICE- 
MEN'S  SOULS. 

The  police  department  in  a  large  majority  is  cor- 
rupted. But  the  evil  hides  behind  that  body.  It 
would  be  like  paring  a  corn  to  destroy  that  body. 
The  root  is  still  imbedded  in  the  flesh. 


42     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

POLITICS  —  prostituted  and  debauched  —  is  the 
root  of  the  evil. 

The  honest  policeman  is  but  a  plaything.  If  he 
wanders  into  a  vice  king's  district  he  is  tried  out. 
If  found  wanting  in  rottenness  his  transfer  is  effected. 
A  more  plastic  man  is  found  to  fill  his  place. 

The  police  department  has  sold  its  soul  of  honor 
for  a  mess  of  decaying  pottage. 

Because :  — 

It  is  estimated  that  of  the  $15,000,000  in  graft 
annually,  the  corrupt  members  of  the  department  re- 
ceive but  ten  per  cent. 

They  do  the  slave's  work,  the  pander's  work,  etc., 
for  a  bagful  of  blood-dripping  dollars ! 

THE    BATTLE    OF    GOODNESS   WITH    THE 
POWERS    OF    HELL. 

A  saint  might  sit  in  the  seat  of  power,  —  the 
Mayor's  chair  —  and  be  powerless  to  stem  the  evil. 

He  is  the  creation  of  an  election.  Vice  is  the 
creation  of  satanic  wisdom  and  diabolical  cunning. 

The  Mayor  of  the  city  is  battling  against  the  sea 
of  iniquity  about  him.  He  has  appointed  municipal 
physicians  to  cut  out  the  moral  cancer^^that  is  rapidly 
destroying  the  city.     God  speed  this  noble  work. 

But  we  tremble  when  we  think  that  in  the  end 
it  may  be  futile. 

Justice  has  scarcely  any  way  of  reaching  these 
criminals.  They  create  their  own  power,  build  the 
citadel  of  crime  and  vice  about  them  and  dwell  se- 
curely within. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     43 

To  save  herself  Chicago  needs  a  new  civic  con- 
science or  the  stimulation  of  a  latent  one. 

Chicago  needs  leaders,  —  men  willing  to  become 
martyrs  for  the  sake  of  their  city,  their  children  and 
their  children's  children. 

A  general  awakening  to  the  gigantic,  monstrous 
evil  is  the  only  palpable  salvation. 

Destroy  corrupt  political  power  and  the  victory  is 
won.  Then  the  police  force  will  fulfill  the  object  of 
its  creation.  Then  concerted  crime  and  vice  will 
fall  to  pieces.  Then  the  glaring  plague  spots  of 
assembled  infamy  will  be  dissipated.  Then  we  will 
have  a  city  after  God's  own  heart  and  man's  best 
desires. 

We  are  telling  the  truth  to  create  public  and 
saving  opinion,  to  destroy  lethargy  and  inoculate  the 
germ  of  activity. 

CHICAGO!  — TAKE  WARNING,  YOU  WHO  ENTER! 

Chicago  today  is  an  unsafe  city.  Although  first 
in  the  world  in  progressiveness,  it  is  first  in  rotten- 
ness. 

Crime,  sin  and  vice  claim  ninety  per  cent  of  those 
who  enter  it. 

Thousands  of  young  women  of  the  country  come, 
live  and  die  victims  of  its  iniquity,  day  after  day, 
year  after  year. 

An  army  of  young  men,  fired  by  dreams  of  great 
futures,  enter  and  are  defiled,  and  slain  by  the  poisons 
that  'are  disseminated. 


44     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

Shall  it  go  on  interminably :  —  this  reign  of  the 
triumvira'te-Vice-Graft-Corruption? 

We  pray  not.     We  are  hoping-  that  it  may  not. 

Back  of  the  ruin  of  world-nations,  if  stripped  to 
an  ultimate  cause,  is  the  one  word  —  Vice. 

Its  grip  is  on  Chicago ;  a  stronger  grip  than  any 
other  city  of  the  world  has  ever  felt.  Our  life-blood  is 
thinning;  the  flesh  of  our  bones  is  wasting.  The 
crucial  hour  is  here. 

Save  Chicago  from  a  record  on  history's  page  of 
"Forgotten  and  Ruined  Cities,  Victims  of  Sin  and 
Crime." 

Let  the  ministerial  forces  fight  for  the  betterment. 
Let  them  seize  the  leaderships. 

WHY  THIS  BOOK  WAS  WRITTEN. 

In  this  little  volume  each  page  is  a  sign  post  of 
warning,  for  the  Chicago  man  and  woman,  and  par- 
ticularly, for  those  who  visit  or  intend  visiting  this 
city. 

This  book  is  not  a  mere  setting  forth  of  facts 
without  explanation  of  the  reason  for  their  existence. 

It  is  a  clear,  truthful  analysis  of  crime,  vice  and 
graft  from  every  standpoint. 

It  is  the  first  story,  as  far  as  we  are  aware,  of 
the  monstrous  Vice-Graft  system. 

We  have  given  a  general  outline  of  crime  'and  its 
relation  to  the  conscienceless,  fattening  Trust. 

In  the  later  chapters  we  shall  treat  of  the  hideous 
and  most  important  evils  of  the  city,  in  detail. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     45 

The  "Debauchery  of  the  Ballot,"  the  "redlight" 
districts  and  their  machinery  and  thousands  of  ruined 
women,  the  White  Slave  Traffic,  the  gfambling  games 
and  their  alliance  with  the  police,  the  "Vampire 
Trust,"  petty  crimes  that  flourish,  buried  plague  spots 
of  the  city,  and  other  startling  features  in  the  king- 
dom of  crime  will  be  separately  and  truthfully  treated. 

We  are  telling  a  terrible  story.    It  is  the  story  of — 
—  CHICAGO  — 
THE  WICKEDEST   CITY  IN  THE  WORLD! 


^//^■'/y///////////'/M/////////^^^^^^ 

'4    I'm  Ti(?£o  of  The&e:     ^ 


jTlGATlP'^ 


SPARTftM  EFFORTS  WILL  BE 
MADE  TO  DIVORCE  FORCt 
FROM  CRIMINAL  ALUftNCE 
WITH  GftMBLERS 


Mr.    McCutcheon    in    The    Tribune. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Debauchery  of  the  Ballot. 

The    Sacredness   of   the   Ballot  —  Its    Corruption   by   the 

Vice   Trust  —  Methods   of   Corruption  —  Affidavits 

Showing  Corruption  —  A  Cleansed  Ballot 

Box  —  A    Cleansed   City. 

American  advancement  has  its  foundation  in  the 
principles  of  government  by  the  people,  for  the  people 
and  of  the  people. 

Every  American  citizen,  in  theory  at  least,  is  an 
ideal  autocrat.  He  is  the  judge  of  his  personal  con- 
duct; the  maker  of  his  surroundings;  the  master  in 
his  home;  the  ruler  of  his  nation  hy  his  power  of 
representative  government. 

Ideal  democracy  is  God's  highest  gift  to  his  best 
creation. 

Prostituted  democracy  is  hell's  highest  triumph; 
is  evil's  best  instrument. 

Individual  right   to  create  a  governing  power  is 
an  American  citizen's  first  prerogative. 
^-         The  most  sacred  thing  in  the  mechanism  of  self-  \ 
C    government  of  the  United  States,  —  is  the  Ballot  Box.    / 
Tamper  with  the  ballot  box  and  you  aim  a  body 
blow  at  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 


48     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY. 

Defile  its  sanctity  and  you  destroy  the  purity  of 
our  democracy. 

Chicago  is  a  seething  mass  of  corruption,  vice, 
graft  and  iniquity  today,  as  has  'been  generally  shown 
in  the  first  chapter.     That  must  be  admitted. 

Previously  we  have  spoken  of  her  evils  in  a  general 
way. 

The  Vice  Trust  rules  supreme.  It  is  almost  im- 
pregnable. The  secret  of  that  herculean  strength 
and  power  is  — 

The  Debauchery  of  the  Ballot  Box! 

The  ballot  of  Chicago  has  been  debauched,  sold 
and  enslaved ! 

Not  more  than  ten  men,  powers  in  the  political 
world,  by  insidious  methods  have  poisoned  it,  killed 
its  political  value  for  municipal  betterment,  and  made 
it  the  armament  of  their  corrupt  forces.  With  its 
aid  they  have  built  up  the  monstrous  Vice  combine, 
and  with  it  they  retain  year  after  year  the  sceptre 
of  vicious  tyranny. 

Investigations  have  proven  the  debauchery  of  the 
ballot.  Investigators  have  shown  that  the  corrupted 
ballot  box  has  won  disastrous,  political  victories.  In- 
vestigation has  demonstrated  that  all  the  forces  of 
moral-decaying  vice  have  been  used  to  destroy  the 
honesty  of  the  ballot,  so  that  vice  might  flourish  and 
pay  its  tribute  to  its  sleek-faced,  big-bellied  masters. 

It  is  our  intention  to  show  in  this  chapter  how  the 
^^  debauched  ballot  box  is  the  secret  power  of  the  forces 
that  make  Chicago  the  wickedest  city  in  the  world^^ 

Granted  the  necessary  political  despotism  to  rule 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     49 

and  pass  sentence  of  life  and  death  on  good  and  bad, 
what  opportunity  have  the  powers  for  good  to  destroy 
the  parasite? 

40,000   ILLEGAL  BALLOTS   IN   ONE   YEAR. 

The  situation  today  is  appalHng.  The  foundations 
of  government  are  menaced. 

From  reHable  sources,  and  from  information 
gained  by  investigating-  bodies  backed  by  the  reform 
element,  40,000  illegal  names  stand  on  the  poll-list 
of  the  city! 

This  is  the  heavy,  moral  and  political-destroying 
artillery  of  the  vice  generals.  This  is  the  battalion 
that  drops  "yes"  in  the  ballot  box  to  make  vice 
supreme. 

It  is  composed  of  the  riffraff  of  humanity,  of  the 
wreckage  and  driftwood  of  the  country. 

Every  member  sells  his  citizenship  for  a  piece  of 
silver,  a  poisonous  drink,  a  mess  of  pOttage. 

They  are  the  army  of  "floaters"  and  "repeaters," 
who  are  massed,  housed  and  fed  in  the  regions  of 
the  vice  lords,  a  week  or  two  before  elections,  and 
proclaim  their  unholy  allegiance  to  their  masters  by 
the  prostitution  of  the  ballot  box  and  the  overthrow 
of  clean,  honest,  moral  government. 

Each  man  has  a  past ;  — •  vice  wrecked  the  moral 
conscience  of  some,  brutal  crime  destroyed  respect 
in  others  and  drink  slew  the  convictions  of  still 
other  thousands. 

They  infest,  in  the  large  majority,  those  political 
territories  where  crime  and  vice  are  centered. 


so     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

The  means  of  defeating  an  honest  election  and 
securing  politico-vice  control  are  many. 

CHARACTER  OF  THE   VICE  CORPS;   ITS  WORK. 

Every  hobo,  degenerate  and  criminal  at  large, 
knows  when  Chicago's  elections  come  due.  From 
Maine  to  Washington,  from  Florida  to  Northern 
Michigan  comes  the  immigration  to  Chicago. 

Six  htmdred  lodging  houses  and  cheap  hotels  in 
the  First,  Eighteenth  and  Twenty-first  wards  —  the 
vice  territories  of  the  city  - —  throw  open  their  doors 
to  the  hired  assassins  of  the  ballot. 

The  vice  kings  have  issued  the  order.  The  army 
is  given  lodging. 

The  barrel-houses,  whiskey  halls  and  underground 
hells  furnish  the  nutrition  for  the  human  vultures. 

That  is  part  of  their  agreement  of  existence.  They, 
too,  are  concerned.  A  defeat  of  their  rulers  would 
mean  financial  ruin  and  the  loss  of  a  channel  to  protec- 
tion for  their  crime  doings. 

Soaked  with  destructive  liquor,  fed  with  de-ener- 
gizing food  the  "floaters"  and  "repeaters"  wallow  in 
the  mire,  waiting  to  do  their  filthy  service  and  then 
depart. 

The  sub-leaders  of  these  men  are  the  appointed 
guardians  of  the  ballot,  clerks  and  judges  of  election, 
principally. 

They,  too,  are  corrupt.  Recent  elections  have 
even  resulted  in  fixing  election  crimes  on  them  and 
sending  some  to  jail. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      51 

The  question,  "Shall  this  city  (Chicago)  become 
anti-saloon  territory?"  was  to  have  been  placed  on 
the  ballot,  April  5,  1910.  Sixty-eight  saloonkeepers 
and  bartenders  qualified  as  judges  and  clerks  for  this 
election.  \  No  "floater"  or  "repeater"  would  have  been 
prevented  from  voting  by  these  clerks  and  judges. 

PADDED    ELECTION    REGISTERS. 

In  the  primary  election,  held  September  15,  1910, 
one  third  of  the  vote  cast  in  the  First  ward  was  made 
by  "repeaters"  or  personators,  in  the  names  of  indi- 
viduals who  did  not  live  at  the  addresses  from  which 
they  were  recorded  as  voting. 

This  terrible  condition  was  unearthed  by  inves- 
tigators working  for  Arthur  Burrage  Farwell,  pres- 
ident of  the  Chicago  Law  and  Order  League.  This 
fact  was  ascertained  by  a  comparison  of  the  poll 
books  used  at  the  primary  with  the  records  of  a 
house-to-house  canvass  of  the  ward. 

In  March  of  that  year  the  same  reform  organiza- 
tion caused  the  erasure  of  702  illegal  names  from 
the  registry  books  of  the  notorious  First  ward.  In 
a  single  precinct  in  that  ward,  with  a  registration  of 
668,  269  names  were  those  of  "floaters"  and  "re- 
peaters."    These  were  stricken  off. 

Investigation  before  that  September  primary  in 
the  First  Ward  showed  10,996  names  on  the  registry 
list.  It  also  showed  that  5,552  of  the  names  were  of 
persons  who  did  not  live  at  the  addresses  given,  but 
who  cast  their  purchased  ballots  at  the  primary 
election ! 


THE  PROSTITUTE:  A  MASK  FOR  THE  "FLOATER" 


52     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

Similar  conditions  exist  in  the  other  lodging  house 
wards,  previously  mentioned,  and  also  known  as  the 
"river"  wards,  because  they  are  separated  by  the 
Chicago  river,  the  last  resting  place  of  many  revolters 
from  the  system. 

The  "debauchery  of  the  ballot"  is  too  mild  a  term 
for  this  crime. 

Three  hundred  and  twenty  hotels,  whose  occupants 
are  mainly  prostitutes  and  their  unfortunate  victims, 
are  used  to  render  honest  elections  impossible. 

The  "floater"  is  called  into  the  corner  of  the  bar- 
rel-house and  given  the  "dope"  by  the  boss'  lieutenant. 

His  name  is  "Panhandle"  Harry  for  instance.  He 
is  told  that  on  election  day  his  names  are  successively, 
M.  Graham,  L.  Wilson,  B.  Smith,  etc.  He  is  to  use 
his  suddenly  acquired  aliases  at  different  precincts. 

He  is  to  cast  one,  two,  three  or  perhaps  ten  votes 
for  the  vice  lords.  He  does  so.  Hundreds  like  him 
do  so. 

For  each  name  he  has  an  address  of  the  prostitute's 
name  he  bears,  for  that  is  the  subterfuge.  Her  name 
with  but  an  initial  for  the  maiden  name  appears  on 
the  register  of  the  hotel.  It  is  sold  to  the  man  who 
sells  himself  and  then  sells  his  vote. 

The  working  of  the  system  was  revealed  in  a 
ludicrous  manner. 

Carter  H.  Harrison  was  a  candidate  for  Mayor. 
He  sent  a  printed  note  of  appreciation  signed  with 
a  printed  autograph  to  the  registered  voters  of  the 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      53 

First  ward  in  which  he  urged  attendance  at  the 
primaries.  Of  course,  Mr.  Harrison,  himself,  did 
not  do  this.  His  supporters  did  it  with  permission 
for  the  use  of  his  name. 

One  of  these  went  to  a  notorious  woman  living 
in  the  Cadillac  hotel,  Wabash'  avenue  and  Twenty- 
second  street.  That  is  on  the  edge  of  the  South 
side  "redlight"  district. 

That  woman's  name  had  been  placed  on  the  reg- 
istry list  as  hundreds  of  others  had  been,  by 
"repeaters"! 

The  woman  who  received  the  letter  was  puzzled. 
She  showed  it  to  the  man  for  whom  she  daily  sold  her 
body  for  hire.  The  mystery  of  the  prostitute  subter- 
fuge was  revealed. 

There  are  sixty-three  women  living  in  the  Cadillac 
hotel.  It  is  certain  that  each  one  casts  a  vote  by  the 
proxy  system  explained,  for  the  existence  of  the 
hellish  comibine. 

Could  anything  'be  more  fiendish  ? 

Is  there  any  power  that  can  dig  down  deep  enough 
to  uproot  this  crying  evil? 

THE  LODGING  HOUSE  PERIL. 

In  one  lodging  house  in  the  Eighteenth  Ward 
there  is  room  to  accommodate  200  men. 

During  the  lapses  between  elections  but  75  to  100 
men  occupy  these  unsanitary  quarters.  At  election 
they  are  crowded. 

The  occupants  of  these  rooms  are  then  registered 
under  meaningless  names  and  cast  ballots. 


54     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

A  majority  of  the  men  w'ho  count  the  ballots  in 
these  wards  are  also  corrupt.  They  help  the  stuffing 
of  the  ballot  boxes.  They  are  the  supposed  defenders 
of  the  greatest  privilege  given  to  the  American 
citizen ;  —  that  of  self  rule.  They  are  in  reality,  the 
slaves  of  the  Vice  Trust. 

Occasionally  the  regular  residents  of  the  lodging 
houses  work  at  employments  that  they  secure  through 
the  licensed  labor  agencies.  But,  no  matter  how  great 
the  demand  may  be  for  laborers,  no  agency  dares  fur- 
nish these  men  with  work  just  previous  to  elections. 
What  agent  will  deny  that  to  send  voters  out  on  the 
road  to  work  at  election  time  would  mean  ruin 
through  the  loss  of  his  license  to  do  business? 

As  a  specific  proof  of  our  statement  of  the  de- 
bauchery of  Chicago's  ballot-box,  we  print  helow 
the  affidavit  of  a  young  man  who  voted  six  times  at 
the  primary  on   September   15,    1910. 

The  affidavit  is  one  of  a  score  secured  by  Mr. 
Farwell  of  the  Chicago  Law  and  Order  League. 

The  affidavit  follows  :  — 
State  of  Illinois,  County  of  Cook,  SS. 

I,  James  Barnes,  residing  at  419  State  street,  being 
first  duly  sworn,  of  my  own  free  will  and  accord 
upon  my  oath  depose  and  say : 

That  on  Thursday,  September  15,  1910,  I  and 
Frank  Burns,  and  one  Smith  whose  first  name  is  to 
me  unknown,  were  standing  at  the  corner  of  Clark 
and  Van  Buren  streets,  when  a  man,  a  heavy  set 
fellow  with  iron-gray  mustache,  Hackett,  by  name, 
a  hanger-out  at  Kenna's  saloon,  north-east  corner  of 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      55 

Van  Buren  and  Clark  streets,  asked  us  if  we  were 
doing  any  voting.  I  said  no.  He  said  that  he  could 
take  the  three  of  us  over  and  vote  us  and  that  he 
would  pay  us  50c  a  piece  and  give  us  a  couple  of 
cigars  each.  We  said  we  didn't  want  to  take  any 
chances.  He  said  it  was  all  fixed  up  —  that  he  would 
give  us  the  names  we  were  to  vote  under  and  go  down 
with  us  and  tell  them  it  was  all  right.  He  gave  us 
t?he  names,  typewritten  on  a  plain  envelope,  of  which 
h'e  had  a  pocket-full. 

Burns  and  I  went  with  him  to  the  polling  place 
on  Clark  street,  between  Jackson  and  Van  Buren 
streets,  down  in  the  basement.  (4'th  Precinct,  ist 
Ward,  within  300  feet  of  the  Union  League  Club.) 
He  went  down  stairs  with  us.  There  were  two  or 
three  others  waiting  to  vote.  We  gave  the  names 
we  had  —  I  voted  under  the  name  of  T.  M.  Hayes, 
99  Van  Buren  street.  Hackett  told  the  man  in  charge 
of  ballots  to  give  me  a  Democratic  ticket.  He  did 
so.  I  then  went  into  the  booth  and  was  followed  by 
another  man  who  said  he  would  fix  it  up  for  me  and 
he  marked  the  ticket,  told  me  to  fold  it  and  take  it  out 
and  vote  it.  He  had  small  gray  mustache,  gray  hair, 
forty-eight  or  fifty  years  old,  gray  suit.  I  gave  the 
ballot  to  the  man  at  the  ballot  box  who  took  it  and 
put  it  in  the  box.  I  then  went  out  and  the  man  who 
marked  the  ticket  went  up  stairs  with  me  and  said 
to  me,  "Go  down  to  the  corner  and  meet  the  other 
fellow,"  meaning  the  man  who  took  me  down,  Hack- 
ett.    I    met    him    by    the    Princess    Hotel    doorway. 


56     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

He  took  me  inside  the  hallway  and  gave  me  half 
a  dollar  and  two  cigars  —  ten  centers. 

I  voted  again  in  about  half  an  hour  under  the 
name  of  Henry  C.  Williams,  99  Van  Buren  street 
(same  ward  and  precinct),  under  same  conditions  as 
before  and  got  seventy-five  cents  the  second  time,  as 
he  had  no  more  cigars.  He  took  two  other  fellows 
down  while  we  waited  for  him. 

He  later  told  me  to  go  with  another  man,  a  big 
Iheavy  set  man  in  a  gray  suit  who  told  me  that  if  I 
would  hunt  up  two  or  three  other  fellows  he  would 
give  me  an  extra  half  dollar.  He  offered  a  dollar  for 
votes.  I  got  one  fellow  for  him  and  another  lad  got 
three  or  four.  Six  of  us  went  over  to  LaSalle  and 
Adams,  where  we  were  halted  in  the  alley  and  two 
at  a  time  taken  to  the  polling  place  at  146  LaSalle 
street,  in  a  basement  bookstore  where  I  voted  under 
the  name  of  William  Jo'hnson,  172  Madison  street 
(2nd  Precinct,  ist  Ward).  The  big  man  gave  us  the 
names  on  an  envelope  and  a  sample  ballot  marked  as 
we  should  vote.  It  was  a  Democratic  ticket.  At  the 
door  of  the  polling  place  we  met  another  man  who 
went  in  with  us.  I  gave  the  name  assigned,  asked 
for  instructions  and  the  judge  told  the  man  who  went 
down  with  us  to  go  down  and  help  me.  He  went  in 
with  me  and  marked  the  ballot.  I  did  not  even  open 
the  sample  ballot.  When  I  came  back  to  the  alley 
the  man  gave  me  a  dollar  and  also  gave  the  other 
man  who  went  with  me  to  vote  a  dollar. 

I  then  went  hack  to  Van  Buren  and  Clark  and 
met  a  man  from  the  West  side  who  said  he  wanted 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      57 

twenty  or  twenty-five  men  to  go  over  there.  There 
were  seven  or  eight  of  us  went  over  together  and  I 
voted  at  the  corner  of  Sangamon  and  Madison  streets, 
under  the  name  of  Danford  Stowe,  27  North  Sanga- 
mon street  (Pet.  11,  i8th  Ward).  We  went  in  three 
at  a  time.  We  got  the  names  from  an  old  man  who 
had  them  written  on  a  sHp.  We  had  to  remember 
them  as  he  gave  out  no  printed  or  written  names. 
I  was  paid  a  dollar  after  I  voted  by  the  man  who 
gave  me  the  names. 

We  then  went  up  the  street  and  were  told  to  ask 
for  "George" ;  we  went  west  three  or  four  blocks 
and  I  voted  under  the  name  of  Gordon  Seymour, 
19  Bishop  Court ;  the  polling  place  was  on  Madison 
street  in  rear  of  a  barber  shop.  We  asked  for 
"George"  and  were  directed  to  a  man  who  stood  on 
the  corner  with  a  poll  list.  He  gave  me  the  name 
of  Gordon  Seymour  (Pet.  5.  i8th  Ward).  The  fellow 
with  me  was  given  the  name  of  James  A.  Sharp, 
22  Bishop  Court.  I  don't  remember  whether  or  not 
it  was  Democrat  or  Republican  ticket  but  think  it  was 
Republican.  George  went  in  with  us  and  marked  the 
ballot.  He  then  took  both  of  us  and  gave  us  a  dollar 
a  piece.  The  saloon  was  full  of  men.  A  man  there 
had  another  list. 

George  wanted  us  to  go  in  and  vote  again  but  we 
refused  to  go  back  to  the  same  place  again.  He  then 
sent  us  down  to  the  "brick-layers  hall"  on  Monroe 
street  where  we  asked  for  Barney  who  gave  me  the 
name  of  Sheldon.  The  polling  place  was  across  the 
street  from  the  brick-layer's  hall.     Barney  took  us  to 


58     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

the  door.  Another  fellow  went  in  with  us  and  marked 
the  ticket.  Barney  took  us  into  a  saloon  and  bought 
a  drink  for  us  and  paid  us  each  a  dollar. 

James  Barnes. 
Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  twentieth 
day  of  September,  A.  D.  1910. 

Wm.  F.  Mulvihill, 

Notary  Public. 

Other  affidavits  show  that  three  men  voted  thir- 
teen times  in  the  fourth  precinct  of  the  First  Ward. 
The  Union  League  Club,  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
influential  clubs  in  the  country,  stands  in  the  center 
of  that  district. 

W'hile  the  members  sat  and  discussed  a  renovated 
city,  cleansed  of  graft,  crime  and  vice,  these  crimes 
against  every  upright  citizen  were  being  committed. 

ILLEGAL  VOTING  COSTS  MAYORALTY. 

Edward  F.  Dunne,  former  Mayor,  declared  that 
his  recent  defeat  for  nomination  as  mayor  for  another 
term  was  due,  in  part,  to  illegal  votes  cast  at  the 
primaries  in  the  First  Ward. 

In  speaking  of  the  First  Ward,  Judge  Dunne  said : 
"Over  2,600  affidavits  for  registration  were  filed 
for  men  in  the  First  Ward.  These  men  all  voted  at 
the  primary,  February  28,  191 1.  On  March  14,  reg- 
istration day  for  the  election,  less  than  a  month  from 
the  day  the  affidavits  were  filed,  about  800  out  of  the 
2,600  who  registered  by  affidavit,  appeared  at  the 
polling  places  to  register  for  the  election.     This  was 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      59 

due  to  the  vigilance  of  reform  organizations  which 
centered  their  efforts  on  that  ward. 

"The  inference  is  plain.  Nearly  i,8oo  votes  were 
registered  for  the  primary  by  men  not  eligible  to 
vote  and  who  dared  not  face  the  challengers  for  the 
forces  of  good." 

And  that  is  the  result  of  seventy-four  years  of 
efifort  to  build  a  city  for  the  welfare,  happiness  and 
advancement  of  its  inhabitants ! 

MR.  FARWELL  ON  THE  BALLOT   CRIME. 

"Chicago  has  never  faced  a  graver  problem,"  de- 
clares Mr.  Farwell.  Vice,  crime  and  graft  are  hei- 
nous offenses  in  the  body  municipal,  but  they  are 
secondary  to  the  debauchery  of  the  ballot. 

"Corrupt  that  and  you  sweep  all  things  to  ruin. 
Honest  elections  mean  honest  officials  and  the  end 
of  vice  conditions.  You  cannot  solve  the  social 
problems  nor  remedy  the  social  wrongs  until  you  have 
cleansed  the  ballot  box  of  its  pollution. \  I  believe  that 
today  50,000  illegal  names  stand  on  Chicago's  election 
books.  That  means  50,000  votes  for  crime,  graft  and 
ultimate  ruination." 

THE   LAW   ABETS    EVIL. 

Even  the  present  laws  governing  the  primary  elec- 
tions seem  to  abet  the  crime. 

According  to  the  primary  law  it  is  not  a  fraud 
to  buy  votes ! 

It  is  a  crime  punishable  by  imprisonment  to  sell 
a  vote ! 


60     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

The  Vice  Trust  evidently  had  a  hand  in  the  crea- 
tion of  that  travesty  on  justice.  The  tentacles  of  the 
octopus  reach  into  Springfield,  the  State  capita! ! 

To  the  agents  of  the  Vice  Trust  who  pay  tainted 
dollars   for  votes,   freedom  and  prosperity ! 

To  the  starving,  human  wretches,  forgetful  of 
their  birthrights,  who  sell  their  votes  for  the  price 
of  food  or  drink  —  shame  and  prison  cells ! 

IN    CONCLUSION. 

That  is  the  source  whence  comes  the  power  to 
create,  foster  and  nourish  vice  and  crime. 

It  is  the  first  and  the  only  absolutely  essential  link 
in  the  vice  chain. 

THE  POLICE  FORCE,  ASSISTING  IN  SUCK- 
ING THE  STAGNANT  BLOOD  FROM  THE 
CITY'S  LEVEES,  MIGHT  BE  SWEPT  AWAY 
BY  A  WAR  OF  PROTEST  AND  REFORM,  BUT 
THE  EVIL  WOULD  GROW  ANEW. 

New  agents  could  be  speedily  found.  The  foundry 
where  the  iron  manacles  for  the  vice-slaves  are  forged, 
would  still  exist. 

The  ballot  box  would  still  remain  to  be  tampered 
with. 

Guard  the  ballot  box  night  and  day ;  wipe  out  the 
padded  registry  list ;  arrest  the  thousands  of  "floaters" 
and  "repeaters" ;  compel  prostitutes  to  register  their 
full  names  to  show  their  sex  ;  and  send  to  prison  the 
corrupt  judges  and  clerks  of  election ;  send  to  the 
workpiles  the  buyers  of  votes,  and  you  will  strike  a 
fatal  blow  at  the  Vice  Trust. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     61 

That  is  the  only  remedy. 

A  debauched  ballot  box  means  "redlight"  districts. 

A  debauched  ballot  box  means  dens  of  infamy. 

A  debauched  ballot  box  means  putrefying  saloons. 

A  debauched  ballot  box  means  5,000  registered 
prostitutes. 

A  debauched  ballot  box  means  protected  White 
Slavery. 

A  debauched  ballot  box  means  notorious  gambling. 

A  debauched  ballot  box  means  police  corruption. 

A  debauched  ballot  box  means  — 

$15,000,000  annual  graft  to  the  corrupters  ! 

Because  the  ballot  box  remains  debauched,  the 
Vice  Trust  exists.  Because  it  exists,  Chicago  is  a 
cesspool  of  the  world's  mingled  corruptions. 


SPEAKING  OF  FIRE  TRAPS. 


M  mm 


By    Courtesy   of   The    Chicago   Daily    News. 


THERE   ARE    OTHERS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Come  and  See! 

A  CITY  DEFILED. 

The     Cafe     Evil  — The     Rich     Man's     Girl     Trap  — The 

Borderland  of  Hell  —  Crimes  that  Thrive  by  Night. 

—  State  Street  and  Its  Pitfalls  — 

The  Stages  of  Sin. 

It  is  night.  Over  the  city  of  2,000,000  souls  is 
the  light  of  God's  stars  and  the  pale  moon. 

Thousands  tired  from  the  day's  occupation,  turn 
to  peaceful  sleep  for  relief. 

Innocent  children  are  tucked  into  their  little,  white 
beds.  The  kiss  from  loving  lips  goes  with  them  into 
the  land  of  dreams.  The  future  has  no  terror  for 
them,  because  they  know  not. 

While  thousands  sleep,  thousands  sin  and  perish 
in  Chicago! 

Crime  loves  the  protection  of  darkness.  Vice 
breathes  more  freely  in  the  night. 

From  his  cavern,  creeps  forth  the  monster  Vice 
with  sun-down. 

He  is  hungry  for  his  victims.  They  have  been 
fattened  for  him.  The  hour  has  come  for  the  nightly 
sacrifice  on  the  altars  of  debauchery. 

Come  with  us !  Come,  we  will  show  you  the 
City  Defiled ! 


64     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

Down  into  the  heart  of  the  loop  district  we  shall 
g-o  first. 

Right  across  from  where  God's  and  man's  laws 
are  administered  in  the  County  Courthouse,  a  stone's 
throw  from  one  of  the  oldest  churches  in  Chicago, 
we  shall  stop. 

It  is  George  Silver's  "Rialto."  It  is  one  of  the 
most  popular  cafes  of  its  kind  in  Chicago.  It  is  a 
place  where  human  souls  are  valued  for  just  the  worth 
of  the  body's  hire.  An  alderman  is  said  to  be  part 
owner  of  this  place. 

It  is  a  typical  example  of  the  hundreds  of  drinking 
places  for  men  and  women  that  are  found  in  Chicago. 

Virtue  is  slain  there  every  night.  Hearts  are 
broken  there  and  lives  ruined.  It  is  no  worse  than 
other  places  of  the  same  type. 

It  is  an  underground  hell. 

Down  the  steps  we  go  and  enter. 

We  are  escorted  to  a  table  by  a  colored  waiter. 

On  'a  raised  dais,  a  bent-over  consumptive  looking 
young  man  plays  a  piano.  The  airs  are  the  popular 
hits  of  the  day. 

A  pale-faced  youth  wipes  his  purple  lips  after  a 
hasty  sip  'at  a  beer  glass  and  advancing  to  the  front 
of  the  dais  sings  a  song,  usually  of  sensuous  import. 

He  is  extravagantly  applauded.  He  is  "sent  up" 
a  drink  by  some  pleased  patron. 

But  look  about  you. 

There  are  more  than  one  hundred  tables.  At  each 
table  sit  at  least  one  man  and  one  woman. 

In  every  woman's  face,  if  you  are  observant,  is 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     65 

written  a  tragedy,  either  beginning  that  night,  or  in 
its  unfolding  or  finished  years  before. 

Do  you  see  that  "washed-out"  bleached  blonde  with 
colorless  eyes,  who  smiles  at  tlie  drinking  youth  who 
sits  with  her?  She  has  lived  through  the  tragedy. 
Life  to  her  is  but  an  aftermath  of  unending  agony. 

The  monster  Vice  has  long  ago  sucked  the  life 
blood  from  her  veins.  She  has  been  discarded.  She 
lives  from  day  to  day  on  her  passing  victims. 

They  are  usually  unsophisticated  youths,  proud  to 
sit  with  her,  buy  her  more  poison  and  peril  their 
young  lives  by  contact  with  her 

She  is  coughing.  That  is  the  warning  signal  she 
knows  well  but  attempts  to  forget.  It  is  the  signal 
that  death  has  placed  his  hands  upon  her.  She  has 
fulfilled  her  mission.     Hell  must  claim  its  own. 

You  are  attracted  by  a  merry  burst  of  laughter 
from  pretty  lips.    You  turn. 

How  her  eyes  sparkle !  How  her  cheeks  bum 
crimson ! 

Her  body  moves  sinuously  to  the  rythm  of  the 
music. 

She  smiles  even  at  you  as  she  sips  her  "fizz." 

She  is  intoxicated  with  life.  It  is  lights  and  shad- 
ows, songs  and  flowers. 

She  is  a  favorite  among  men.  A  much-sought 
after  girl  on  the  border  line  of  womanhood. 

She  has  no  terrors  tonight;  no  haunting  night- 
mares. 

Her  Wood  flows  fast;  'her  pulse  thrills  her;  her 
thoughts  burn  with  pleasing  fire. 


66     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

She  is  reckless.  Why  not?  The  world  is  a  bed 
of  roses. 

Four  months  ago  she  wandered  into  the  paths 
that  lead  to  hell. 

Six  dollars  a  week  as  a  clerk.  No  clothes,  no 
delicacies,  no  amusements. 

She  learned  the  secrets  of  the  girl  who  worked 
beside  her ;  how  she  purchased)  the  "good  things"  of 
life. 

Her  virginal  innocence  was  the  inestimable  price ! 

Tonight  she  is  an  habitue  of  the  brilliant  cafe. 

The  path  is  still  one  of  beauty  and  fascination. 
The  tragedy  is  in  its  inception. 

The  bright  eyes  will  become  dull,  the  sweet  voice 
harsh,  the  cheeks  pale,  the  face  haggard. 

The  wine  shall  have  been  sipped.  Nothing  then 
but  the  bitter  dregs !  Oh,  the  horror  of  that  approach- 
ing tragedy ! 

Her  end  is  inevitable. 

An  early  grave,  a  house  of  prostitution  or  an  in- 
sane asylum !     There  is  rarely  ever  a  turning  back. 

Vice  buries  its  tentacles  deep  in  the  flesh. 

THE   FIRST    STEP. 

"Dearie,  don't  be  afraid  of  that.  Really,  it's  like 
a  'soft'  drink.     It   won't  make  you  drunk." 

Again  you  turn  on  hearing  that  remark. 

He  is  leaning  over  the  table ;  —  a  gray-haired, 
fashionably  dressed  man.  The  young  girl  he  is  talk- 
ing to,  is  not  more  than  sixteen  years  of  age. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     Q 

Her  face  is  white.  Her  eyes  are  like  those  of  a 
hunted  deer.     Her  hands  tremfble. 

It  is  her  first  night ! 

The  fiendish  brute  induces  her  to  take  the  drink. 
You  see  her  take  another.  She  seems  suddenly  to 
become  stupid. 

"Come  on,  it  is  about  time  to  go,  Kid,"  you  hear 
the  man  say. 

The  young  girl  lurches  into  his  waiting  arms. 

That  night  another  victim  is  claimed  by  the  mon- 
ster! 

Somewhere  a  little,  gray-haired  mother  prays  that 
her  daughter  may  be  protected  from  the  sins  of  a 
great  city. 

There  is  an  unfathomable  abyss  waiting  for  that 
girl,  a  chasm  in  the  depths  of  which  lurk  torture,  sin, 
disease  and  death. 

In  that  cafe  all  is  levity  and  enjoyment.  It  is  a 
living  in  the  present,  a  forgetfulness  of  the  past,  a 
shutting  of  the  eyes  to  the  terrors  of  the  unborn 
future. 

In  one  night  while  the  music  pleases  the  senses, 
while  song  brings  an  ephemeral  joy,  while  drink 
quickens  the  pulse,  while  the  atmosphere  lulls  the  con- 
science to  sleep,  innocent  young  girls,  barely  out  of 
school,  are  inoculated  with  the  poison  of  forbidden 
fruit. 

Every  year,  hundreds  of  young  girls,  undefiled  and 
pure,  drift  into  the  wickedest  city  in  the  world,  are 
carried  away  by  the  glare  of  the  "Great  White  Way" 
and  the  sensuous  lures  of  the  dazzling  cafes  and  the 


68     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

Bohemian  pleasures,  and  become  unconsciously,  the 
recruits  of  the  great  absorbing  Vice  Trust. 

As  we  pass  from  this  cafe,  — ■  the  type  of  hundreds 
of  others, —  note  the  attractive  pictures  on  the  wall, — 
pictures  of  popular  actresses,  actors,  prizefighters  and 
men  of  the  world  of  sports. 

The  girl  who  a  year  ago  knew  comparatively 
nothing  of  the  world  outside  of  her  harmless,  narrow 
sphere,  can  point  to  the  pictures  and  give  you  the 
names  with  dangerous  accuracy.  They  are  now  a 
part  of  her  Bohemian  world.  She  boasts  today  of 
familiarity  with  them. 

Late  in  the  night,  or  to  speak  accurately,  at  early 
dawn,  the  cafes  empty  their  drunken  revelers  into 
the  streets.  In  pairs  they  stagger  away,  some  to 
houses  of  assignation,  others  to  the  disorderly  hotels 
where  they  live,  and  still  others  to  the  "redlight" 
districts  of  the  city,  of  which  we  shall  soon  speak. 

That  is  the  cafe  evil  of  today.  It  is  the  outward 
threads  of  the  enmeshing  wCb  of  the  insidious  and 
poisonous  spider-Vice.  Once  trapped,  redemption  is 
scarcely  possible. 

Two  hundred  department  store  girls,  according 
to  a  reform  association's  statistics,  take  the  first  down- 
ward step  each  year,  in  these  cafes. 

It  is  the  outside  trap,  with  luring  bait,  set  by  the 
Vice  Trust  for  the  unsuspecting  victims.  The  girls 
from  out  of  the  city  are  drawn  to  it  for  the  pleasures 
of  life  because  other  avenues  of  enjoyment  are  not 
open  to  them.  A  conscious  or  unconscious  emissary 
of  the  vice  lords  lures  them  to  these  cesspools,  robs 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     69 

them  of  their  senses  by  subtle  intoxicants  and  de- 
stroys that  same  night  their  virginal  purity.  In  a 
night  they  have  fallen  from  the  highest  estate  to  the 
bottomless  pit  of  a  living  hell ;  they  have  been  strip- 
ped of  their  robes  of  innocence  and  clothed  in  the 
shameful,  sinful,  scarlet  garb  of  the  thousands  of 
women  who  have  fallen  before  them. 

No  mother,  no  father,  who  kisses  a  daughter  good- 
bye as  she  leaves  the  fireside  to  plunge  into  the  foam- 
ing sea  of  Chicago  life,  can  be  certain  that  the  child 
of  his  or  her  flesh  and  blood  will  return  to  the  fireside 
undefiled,  pure  of  body  and  clean  of  heart,  as  long 
as  those  cancers  fester  and  flourish  in  the  city  of 
Chicago. 

We  have  treated  of  the  girl  problem  and  the  cafe. 

What  of  our  boys  ?  —  you  ask. 

It  is  a  sociological  axiom  that  a  nation's  integrity 
depends  on  its  womanhood. 

The  depraved  woman  means  the  depraved  man. 
Each  night  thousands  of  youths,  full  of  physical 
strength,  mental  energy  and  ambition,  seek  recreation 
in  the  cafes.  It  is  there  they  meet  or  take  the  lost 
women.  It  is  there  they  wreck  bright  futures,  sow 
the  seed  of  crime,  deaden  their  moral  consciences,  and 
contract  fatal  diseases  and  rush  unthinking  down  the 
path  that  leads  to  ruin  and  to  death. 

Back  of  a  murder,  in  which  some  young  man  of 
good  parentage  and  of  promising  hopes  figures  as 
the  principal,  you  can  read  the  word  "cafe."  It  began 
there,  it  progressed,  until  its  end  meant  the  gallows 
in  the  court  yard  of  the  county  jail. 


70     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

STATE    STREET   AND    ITS   PITFALLS. 

Let  us  leave  the  accursed  place.  We  have  other 
places  to  visit  before  the  sun  flares  red  above  the 
waters  of  Lake  Michigan. 

We  stroll  down  Randolph  street,  through  Chicago's 
well  lighted  avenues  and  its  "Rialto"  to  one  of  the 
busiest  thoroughfares  in  the  world,  —  during  the  day 
—  State  street. 

The  bustling,  shoving,  pushing,  army  of  men  and 
women,  has  gone  home. 

Yet,  the  street  is  by  no  means  deserted. 

As  we  walk  along  we  are  conscious  of  the  number 
of  unescorted  women,  walking  the  main  loop  thor- 
oughfare.    We  mentally  comment  on  it. 

They  seem  to  saunter  aimlessly  about,  jauntily 
swinging  their  purses,  and  looking  up  into  your  face 
in  a  questioning,  puzzling  manner. 

Would  you  know  the  hideous  truth? 

These  are  the  outposts  of  the  great  army  of  Vice. 
These  are  the  women,  stripped  of  the  last  element  of 
self-respect,  who  like  vultures  attack  their  prey  in 
the  glare  of  the  arc  lights,  in  the  face  of  the  uniformed 
guardians  of  the  law. 

In  the  vernacular  of  the  street,  these  are  the  pri- 
vates of  the  army  of  "street-walkers."  Unblushingly 
they  flirt  with  their  victims,  catch  their  eyes,  draw 
them  into  a  side  street  and  quibble  over  the  purchase 
price  of  their  flesh. 

There  is  an  army  of  2,000  of  these  women  in- 
festing the  loop  district  and  its  adjoining  neighbor- 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      71 

hoods  every  night  in  the  year.  To  the  shady  hotels 
within  the  loop  or  just  outside  of  it,  where  no  em- 
barrassing questions  are  asked,  these  brazen  prostitutes 
take  their  temporary  masters. 

No  decent  woman  is  safe  on  a  downtown  street 
after  dark  when  alone.  The  haunting  evil  is  about 
her  wherever  she  goes.  She  is  good,  but  the  men 
who  walk  the  streets  do  not  know  it  and  they  may 
offer  her  insults  at  any  moment. 

At  times  the  evil  becomes  so  open  that  police 
regulations  are  issued,  driving  them  from  their  by- 
ways of  crime.  Invariably  within  a  few  days,  the 
same  painted  faces  and  expressionless  eyes  are  to  be 
found  on  the  old  corners,  carrying  on  their  disease- 
distributing  trade. 

These  women  are  not  free  agents  of  evil  any  more 
than  other  slaves  of  the  Vice  Trust.  They  pay  toll 
for  every  step  their  tired  feet  take  during  the  night 
and  the  early  hours  of  the  morning.  They  take  their 
victims  to  the  cafes  of  which  we  have  spoken  and 
lure  them  into  buying  poisonous  intoxicants.  For 
every  drink  they  bring  to  the  house,  —  and  they  must 
bring  many  if  they  are  to  enjoy  the  favor  of  the  vice 
lords,  —  they  are  given  a  commission.  The  "drink 
check"  is  a  part  of  the  nightly  income  of  every  woman 
of  the  underworld. 

But  let  us  pass  on.  We  have  only  scratched  the 
superficial,  outer  covering  of  the  crime  life  of  Chi- 
cago. There  are  a  thousand  more  revolting  sights  to 
be  seen,  not  for  the  purpose  of  morbid  curiosity  but 


72     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

in  order  to  prove  to  our  readers  the  magnitude  and 
the  power  of  the  Vice  Trust  in  Chicago. 

We  are  taking  a  trip  through  the  greatest  king- 
dom in  the  world,  the  empire  of  unhampered,  bold- 
faced, threatening  sin. 

THE  STAGES  OF  SIN. 

As  we  pass  down  the  well  lighted  streets  of  the 
loop  district  we  'are  halted  in  our  progress  by  a  man 
standing  in  front  of  a  garish-appearing  theater  just 
south  of  Van  Buren  on  State  street. 

The  cry  that  reaches  our  ears  is : 

"Come  on,  I  know  every  man  here  is  dying  to  take 
a  peep  at  Chicago's  only  and  original  Salome  lady ! 
She's  inside  in  all  her  glory  and  all  her  —  well,  you 
know,  Gents,  the  best  ever.  Come  on,  it's  a  whole 
pile  of  fun  for  a  dime.  You  will  thrill  all  over  when 
the  cutest  girl  in  the  world  hugs  a  man  in  a  grizzly- 
bear  wiggle!" 

Strains  of  music  float  from  the  place  and  a  swarm 
of  men  of  all  types  and  conditions  wedge  their  way 
to  the  inside. 

That  is  another  of  the  sore  spots  of  the  big  city. 
It  is  just  one  of  hundreds  of  indecent  forms  of  enter- 
tainment that  have  enough  air  of  respectability  about 
them  to  exist  on  the  borders  of  Chicago's  loop  district. 
Here  they  flourish  and  reap  their  harvest. 

In  such  places,  many  a  promising  young  man  has 
committed,  in  mind  at  least,  his  lirst  moral  murder. 
It  is  in  this  kind  of  places  that  vice  sows  its  first 
seed's  —  they  are  the  first  stepping  stones  down  the 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      73 

abyss  ending  at  the  dishonored  grave.  Every  night 
young  men  pour  out  of  these  places  with  their  minds 
poisoned  and  with  the  fiery  hand  of  temptation  on 
them,  and  from  there  they  drift  southward  to  the 
great  whirlpool  of  iniquity,  falling  victims  to  the 
deadly  perils  about  them  and  tasting  the  deadly  but 
subtle  poison  for  which  they  return  until  they  die 
at  the  source. 

Every  form  of  indecency  may  be  found  on  the 
small  and  poorly  lighted  stages  of  these  theaters. 
Suggestive  songs  are  sung,  obscene  witticism  spoken, 
until  pent  up,  disastrous  passions  burst  forth  with 
demoniacal  fury  and  slay  their  own  masters. 

But  let  us  go  on  down  the  roadway  of  crime  and 
sin. 

THE   RICH   MAN'S  GIRL  TRAP. 

We  have  crossed  over  to  Michigan  avenue  —  to 
one  of  the  main  boulevards  of  the  world.  It  is  the 
promenade  of  men  of  millions  and  wom.en  of  blood. 
It  is  the  location  of  some  of  the  most  exclusive,  most 
fashionable  and  most  expensive  hotels  in  the  world. 

Surely,  you  say,  these  hotels  do  not  figure  in  the 
great  vice  plot  which  exists  in  Chicago? 

They  do !  They  figure  in  a  way  that  will  make 
every  father  and  mother  who  reads  this  narration, 
tremble  with  fear  and  horror. 

These  hotels  are  infested  with  men  of  wealth  and 
time,  men  of  dead  consciences,  men  of  diseased  moral 
senses,  who  are  always  in  search  of  young,  innocent, 
pretty  prey  for  their  decaying  passions. 


74     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

Under  the  pretense  of  respectability,  and  with  the 
false  counsel  that  they  are  safe  and  protected  from 
harm,  these  parasites  bring  their  young  victims  to 
these  hotels,  dazzle  them  with  the  beauty  and  luxury 
about  them,  rob  them  of  their  senses  with  new  and 
intoxicating  delights,  and  then  steal  the  only  priceless 
gift  that  God  gave  them. 

That  is  one  phase  of  the  hotel  evil,  as  we  see  it 
from  a  superficial  glance.  There  are  a  score  of 
otheirs. 

In  one  of  the  leading  hotels  of  the  world,  there  is 
a  great  crime  center.     Let  us  enter  it. 

Down  the  corridors  we  walk  until  we  enter  the 
portals  of  a  new  vice  palace.  It  is  a  cafe  scene  but 
not  of  the  character  witnessed  at  the  place  first  visited. 
Everything  bespeaks  luxury.  The  music  is  subtly  and 
softly  sensuous.  Obsequious  waiters  tread  softly  from 
table  to  table,  taking  their  orders  from  rich  patrons. 

The  men  sitting  about  bear  the  marks  of  wealth 
and  prosperity.  They  are  money  lords,  feasting  at 
the  table  of  life  and  toying  away  the  moments  with 
women  who  are  ready  to  be  purchased  for  pretty 
clothes,  suppers  with  wines,  and  hard,  cold  dollars 
and  cents. 

In  the  majority,  the  women  we  see,  are  dressed  in 
the  latest  fashions,  brilliant  with  delicately  rouged 
faces  and  penciled  eyebrows,  set  off  by  large  and 
attractive  picture  hats. 

If  you  study  the  majority  of  the  faces  you  will 
see  that  they  are  cut  as  if  of  stone.  They  are  faces 
of  women   who  have  lived  through   tragedies,  have 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      75 

thrust  those  tragedies  aside  and  have  reduced  life 
to  a  mere  Hving  from  day  to  day,  prepared  every 
hour  to  barter  flesh  and  blood  for  cash.  But,  as  in 
the  less  pretentious  cafe,  we  find  here  also  the  type 
of  girls  and  women  who  are  just  beginning  to  stray 
into  the  broad  path  of  destruction. 

Money  buys  a  false  air  of  respectability.  It  has 
purchased  that  pharasaical  atmosphere  for  the  big 
hotels. 

It  is  in  these  fashionable  hotel  cafes  and  restaurants 
that  sin  is  suggested  and  the  road  to  ruin  prepared. 
Of  course,  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the 
vast  majority  of  the  women  who  enter  such  places, 
have  long  since  drunk  the  first  glass  of  poison  and 
eaten  the  first  piece  of  for'bidden  fruit. 

Into  these  places,  nightly,  thousands  of  men  and 
women  bent  on  shameful  missions  come  and  depart, 
inebriated  by  wines  and  liquors  and  forgetful  of  respect 
to  each  other.  There  are,  however,  hundreds  who 
enter  and  depart  without  being  contaminated  by  the 
vice  that  haunts  the  handsomely  furnished  apartments. 

Out  in  the  lobby  of  the  hotel,  we  notice  a  nattily- 
dressed  man  of  mature  years  with  the  gray  showing 
in  his  hair,  holding  a  conversation  with  one  of  the 
hotel  attaches.  We  are  curious.  We  notice  he  is 
being  given  directions. 

We  follow  him  to  a  room  in  one  of  the  hotels 
adjoining  the  one  we  have  just  visited.  He  is  taken 
to  a  certain  room  and  is  admitted  by  a  rather  flash- 
ingly  dressed  woman  of  a'bout  forty-five  years,  of 
florid  complexion  and  sharp,  raucous  voice. 


76     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

She  smiles  at  the  man.  He  speaks  to  her  in  a  low 
voice.  We  might  overhear  this  conversation  or  one 
similar  to  it  in  import : 

"I  am  Mr.  Edwards  from  Cincinnati.  I  am  a 
business  man  and  the  evening  is  boring.  Mr.  .  .  . 
th'e  hotel  clerk,  tells  me  you  can  find  me  a  companion?" 
queries  the  caller. 

The  woman  smiles  knowingly,  stops  and  thinks 
and  then  says  in  a  half  jesting  manner: 

"Why,  certainly,  Mr.  Edwards.  I  can  make  the 
evening  agreeable.  I  can  find  you  the  best  little  part- 
ner in  the  world. 

"But" —  and  she  smiles  some  more  — "what  do 
you  want,  something  rather  young  and  new  to  the 
game,  or  a  'woman  of  some  experience?'  I  can  cer- 
tainly produce  a  choice  assortment."  Then  she  laughs 
that  meaningless  laugh  again. 

Mr.  Edwards  hesitates  a  moment,  laughs  off  a 
possible  embarrassment  and  then  answers  in  assumed 
flippancy : 

"Oh,  as  long  as  they  are  numerous,  serve  me  up 
a  young  blonde  chicken  of  about  seventeen  summers, 
one  that  will  go  the  limit  and  not  try  to  put  mucilage 
on  her  fingers  to  stick  to  the  long  green.  I'll  pay 
her  right  for  her  trouble." 

Then  he  makes  his  first  flesh  payment  at  that 
moment  to  the  mistress  of  a  dozen  women's  bodies. 
He  strolls  down  to  the  lobby  and  waits.  A  few 
moments  later  he  is  "paged"  by  a  bellboy  and  a  note 
is  given  him.  If  we  should  follow  him  we  would  fi.nd 
that   the   note   named    the    rendezvous   and   that    the 


THE  VICE  BONDAQE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      11 

purchased  woman  waited  for  him  there  to  do  his 
bidding  during  the  night  of  shame. 

This  is  not  fiction  but  shuddering  fact. 

In  a  Jackson  boulevard  hotel,  there  is  a  "Miss 
Harris,"  who  is  the  procuress  of  girls  of  every  de- 
scription, character,  temperament  and  physical  type, 
for  men  of  wealth. 

There  are  a  dozen  of  such  women  with  headquar- 
ters in  Chicago's  big  hotels.  They  are  the  fashion- 
able panderers  for  the  rich  human  beasts,  who  live 
or  stop  at  the  hotels  or  who  go  there  to  find  their 
victims. 

These  places  in  the  criminal  world  have  a  name. 
They  are  named  "Houses  of  Call."  They  are  em- 
ployment agencies  for  young  and  old  prostitutes.  If 
a  man  is  willing  to  pay  the  price  demanded,  the 
woman,  "Miss  Harris,"  or  other  such  women,  will 
produce  for  his  pleasure,  a  young  virgin  and  turn  her 
over  to  the  merciless,  insane  lust  of  human  Satan. 

These  places  are  the  fashionable  flesh-markets,  the 
slave  blocks  where  women  are  sold  to  men  of  wealth. 

That  is  another  phase  of  the  great  Vice  Trust,  for 
those  women  panderers,  and  those  girl  slaves  pay 
tribute  to  carry  on  their  traffic  to  the  great  kings  of 
the  underworld.  Of  the  relation  of  these  classes  of 
criminals  to  their  protectors  we  shall  speak  later. 

"Miss  Harris" — we  shall  use  her  as  a  type  —  has 
a  secret  directory  to  the  covert,  hidden  but  exj^ensive 
haunts  of  vice. 

After  Mr.  Edwards  departs,  we  might  see  another 
caller  on  a  similar  mission.   He  is  not  a  new  customer. 


78     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

He  is  an  old  one.  He  makes  his  demand  without 
hesitation.  He  wants  a  young  girl  of  innocence. 
He  wants  a  girl  in  the  first  flush  of  maturity,  a  girl 
who  fears  the  things  of  sin,  but  who,  paradoxically, 
craves  for  the  cloying  sweet  things  of  life. 

The  girl  is  found  for  the  monster.  His  crime  must 
be  committed  in  the  dark,  in  a  secure  and  safe  place, 
in  a  place  where  no  one  shall  see  him  committing  his 
soul-murder. 

Again  "Miss  Harris"  comes  to  the  front.  She 
directs  her  customer  with  the  trembling,  wondering 
and  frightened  girl,  to  the  "Arena,"  a  pretentious 
residence  in  Michigan  avenue  near  Fifteenth  street. 

His  coming  is  known  before  his  arrival.  "Miss 
Harris"  has  informed  the  "Madam"  that  a  "live  wire 
with  a  young  kid"  is  on  the  way  to  the  place.  The 
man  and  his  victim  are  received  politely  and  ushered 
into  a  luxuriously  furnished  room,  delicately  scented 
with  perfume  and  stripped  of  any  suggestion  that 
it  is  a  crime-chamber  where  sin  is  intangibly  present, 
waiting  for  the  next  victim. 

The  desecration  of  soul  and  body  begins  and  ends 
in  that  room.  If  the  man  wishes  it,  supper  with 
delicate  morsels  of  food  and  wines  of  choice  and  ex- 
pensive brandis  are  served.  The  atmosphere  wooes 
to  sleep  the  last  moral  rebellion  and  all  is  lost. 

The  "Arena"  is  mentioned  here  as  a  type,  again. 
Chicago  is  infested  with  such  places.  They  may  be 
found  in  our  best  residence  districts,  near  fashionable 
churches  and  adjoining  homes  where  purity  is  sacred. 


THE  VICE   BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      79 

To  state  more  specific  facts  on  such  places  we 
will  name  several  more  similar  "flats." 

A  "Mrs.  Clouds"  conducts  a  similar  place  on  La 
Salle  avenue  near  Erie  street.  It  is  necessary  to  have 
a  letter  of  introduction  or  be  known  before  entrance 
can  be  effected.  Here,  nightly,  men  of  wealth  and 
even  of  prominence  with  wives  and  families,  ignorant 
of  their  orgies,  take  young  girls. 

The  automobiles  of  the  wealthy  drive  up  to  this 
place  every  evening  and  their  occupants  seek  their 
pleasure  within. 

Here  many-course  dinners  with  wine  as  a  zest 
giver  —  usually  champagne  —  are  served  to  the  pa- 
trons for  $12  a  plate.  It  is  the  vice  haunt  of  the 
millionaires  and  their  purchased  women. 

Then  there  is  the  place  of  Mrs.  Mohr  in  Erie 
street,  west  of  Rush  street,  where  the  same  luxuries 
are  in  evidence,  where  the  same  vices  are  committed 
and  where  the  range  of  prices  eats  deep  into  anything 
but  a  plethoric  bank  account. 

These  places  run  without  intervention.  They  are 
known  to  few  outside  the  patrons.  They  pay,  as  do 
all  other  forms  of  vice,  for  police  toleration.  Reform 
movements  have  not  attacked  them  because  they  are 
scarcely  aware  of  their  existence.  They  are  but  a 
small  part  of  the  contributing  elements  of  graft  and 
corruption. 

We  have  digressed,  but  it  was  necessary  to  show 
the  source  and  end  of  a  vice  evil  starting  in  the  big 
hotels.     In  these  "flats"  of  secrecy,  girls  will  be  fur- 


80     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

nished  in  the  same  manner  as  they  are  furnished  by 
''Miss  Harris"  and  her  ilk  of  panderers. 

But  let  us  resume  our  trip  in  the  underworld. 
From  the  hotels,  we  move  southward  again. 

THE  BORDERLAND  OF  HELL. 

Down  Michigan  avenue,  Wabash  avenue,  State 
street,  Fifth  avenue  and  many  other  prominent  thor- 
oug'hfa'res  leading  out  of  the  loop  district,  are  the 
"assignation  hotels"  of  Chicago.  These  are  the  houses 
where  men  bring  their  victims  at  a  cost  of  one  dollar 
to  five  dollars  a  room,  where  street  walkers  "steer" 
their  customers  and  where  vice  festers  with  the  roar 
of  the  business  world  outside  the  windows. 

Within  the  loop  district  alone  there  are  fifty  hotels 
of  this  vicious  character.  Their  average  earnings, 
according  to  a  prominent  investigator  and  reformer, 
are  $600  a  night.  As  we  move  southward  we  pass  them 
at  every  step,  little  dreaming  of  the  lives  that  have 
been  ruined  within  and  the  tragedies  that  have  begun 
and  culminated  there. 

The  part  of  the  South  side  in  which  we  have 
entered  was  at  one  time  a  fashionable  neighborhood 
of  wealthy  and  respectable  residents.  The  Vice  Trust 
drove  them  away  by  its  encroachments.  Today  those 
same  buildings  aire  tenanted  by  lost  women,  living 
there  and  carrying  on  their  nefarious  trade  in  the 
district  but  a  short  distance  away. 

From  Twentieth  street  south  on  Michigan  avenue, 
in  sections,  and  in  Wabash  avenue  and  State  street, 
vice  reigns  openly  and  supreme.    There  is  no  pretense 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     81 

at  (respectability.  Vice  has  thrown  off  its  masks  and 
flaunts  its  hideousness,  its  diseases  and  its  crimes  in 
our  faces. 

It  is  the  Borderland  of  Hell,  —  it  is  the  city's 
death-spot.  Similar  borderlands  are  found  on  the  West 
and  North  sides. 

As  you  look  farther  south  you  can  count  the  elec- 
tric signs  flaring  over  the  haunts  of  vice  —  they  spell 
saloon,  cafe  or  hotel.     They  irun  into  the  hundreds. 

The  interiors  of  these  cafes  are  similar  to  the  loop 
cafe  we  have  described,  stripped  of  its  air  of  hidden 
sin.     Here  sin   stalks   about  as   the   fearless  master. 

The  woman  who  a  year  ago  reveled  in  the 
pleasures  of  a  night  at  some  fashionable  restaurant 
with  a  "friend"  may  be  found  drunk  and  maudlin, 
vulgarly  and  cheaply  clothed,  dropping  "dope"  into 
her  glass  of  whiskey  to  revive  her  tired  brain  and 
body  to  attract  another  victim  and  stave  off  the  wolf 
of  starvation  a  little  while  longer. 

These  are  the  "hangouts"  of  the  women  who  are 
going  down  and  down.  They  have  ceased  to  attempt 
to  appear  respectable ;  they  have  tired  of  hiding  their 
shame  and  infamy ;  they  have  torn  off  the  mask  and 
their  faces  peer  leeringly  at  you  and  their  blue-colored 
lips  seem  to  cry  out  in  hellish  abandon : 

'T  am  a  damned,  lost  creature.  I  sold  my  birth- 
right. I  bartered  the  body  my  good  mother  gave  me. 
I  drank  to  the  last  lees  the  glass  and  I  am  accursed. 
Death  has  placed  his  seal  upon  me  and  I  am  strug- 
gling to  cheat  him  of  a  few  days  longer.  Life,  life, 
more  life !" 


82     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

Here  women  smoke  cigarettes  openly,  embrace  the 
men  they  are  with,  expose  their  Hmbs  in  licentious 
manner  to  attract  prospective  customers.  Here  a  sign 
is  made,  and  a  half  drunken  waiter  brings  a  half 
crazed  creature  sitting  alone  in  the  shadows  of  a 
pillar,  a  white  powder,  which  she  snuffs.  That  is 
cocaine. 

A  majority  of  the  women  who  live  in  and  about 
the  levee  districts  of  the  city,  are  the  slaves  of  the 
opium,  cocaine  and  morphine  habit,  and  fourteen  per 
cent,  according  to  a  conservative  estimate,  are  yearly 
sent  to  the  state  insane  institutions  as  hopeless  vic- 
tims of  drugs. 

In  the  "near-levee"  cafes  we  come  across  a  vice- 
creature,  whose  type  we  have  not  yet  encountered  in 
our  night  tour. 

Watch  that  young  man,  dressed  in  a  stylish,  brown 
suit  of  clothes,  who  is  talking  to  the  painted  un- 
fortunate beside  him.  His  voice  irises  as  he  shakes 
his  finger  at  her.  Her  hand  trembles  as  she  reaches 
down  in  her  stocking.  He  curses  her  and  tells  her 
to  hurry.     Then  she  gives  him  a  number  of  bills. 

"Damn  you,  you  cheap  cur ;  have  you  quit  hustling 
or  have  you  another  man?"  he  yells  at  her  above  the 
jarring  music  of  a  tin-pan  piano  and  the  cigarette 
voice  singing  to  it. 

"Get  out  on  the  street  and  get  some  business !" 
he  says  to  her  hoarsely,  striking  her  across  the  face. 

Pale  and  trembling  the  pitiful  creature  rises  and 
hurries  out  into  the  street  to  search  for  more  prey. 

That  man  is  the  woman's  "cadet."  That  is  the  more 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     83 

polite  word  for  the  old  word  "pimp."  That  is  her 
master :  —  the  man  who  takes  from  her  the  infamous 
earnings  of  her  body. 

Lower  than  the  murderer,  in  the  moral  scale,  are 
these  debased  creatures.  They  are  men  stripped  of 
every  instinct  of  honor,  lost  to  every  sense  of  shame. 
They  are  the  lowest  form  of  the  human  parasite. 

In  the  borderland  of  the  levee  they  live,  breathe, 
eat  and  drink  off  the  earnings  of  thousands  of  depraved 
women.  From  the  earnings  of  their  slaves  they  pay 
the  police  to  grant  their  women  immunity  from 
prosecution. 

These  men  are  also  termed  "macks."  The  name 
means  nothing;  it  is  the  character  of  its  bearing  that 
is  the  horrible  fact. 

In  the  South  side  levee  district,  including  the  places 
that  encircle  the  open  houses  of  prostitution,  there  are 
800  of  these  low  vile  creatures.  We  are  but  describ- 
ing one  of  the  levees  of  the  city.  Conditions  are  sim- 
ilar in  the  others. 

We  have  seen  them  in  the  notorious  cafes  of  the 
South  side  but  they  exist  in  swarms  within  the  levee 
zone  proper. 

The  hours  are  swiftly  passing  and  our  trip  is  by 
no  means  over.  Let  us  leave  the  haunts  we  have 
just  visited. 

Let  us  go  down  to  one  lower  level  of  crime  and 
vice.  We  have  reached  Twenty-second  street  and 
Wabash  avenue  and  we  stand  on  the  edge  of  the 
Great  White  Ulcer. 


84     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 
ANTE  ROOMS   OF  HELL. 

Let  us  follow  the  crowd  of  men  and  women  mto 
that  large  building  on  Twenty-second  street. 

A  novel  sight  greets  us  as  we  enter.  Our  hats 
and  coats  are  checked  and  we  walk  out  from  behind 
a  mirror  used  as  a  screen  into  a  large  hall  on  the 
floor  of  which  several  hundred  couples  are  dancing 
to  the  strains  of  an  orchestra  in  a  balcony  above. 

Some  of  the  faces  which  we  saw  earlier  in  the 
evening  within  the  loop  district  have  also  "come 
south,"  as  the  expression  is.  They  are  here  to  revel 
until  dawn.  There  is  no  letup  until  the  bright  sun 
drives  vice  blinking  and  blinded  back  into  its  holes. 

Every  type  of  woman,  from  the  woman  who  is 
simply  "slumming"  to  the  most  depraved  and  de- 
generate creature  can  be  seen  in  this  notorious  levee 
dance  hall.  As  the  music  dies  down,  the  couples  with 
unsteady  steps,  caused  by  the  Whirling  about  the  floor 
and  the  drinks  which  have  been  freely  imbibed,  seek 
rest  at  the  dirty,  wet  chairs  and  tables  which  en- 
compass the  room.  Drinks  are  served  in  profusion, 
regardless  of  the  state  of  inebriety  of  the  patrons 
and  regardless  of  the  one  o'clock  closing  law,  which 
the  police  declare  is  in  effect. 

Women,  rendered  senseless  by  drink,  are  dragged 
from  the  place  nightly  and  carted  away  —  God  knows 
where ! 

Let  us  get  away  from  the  reeking  atmosphere, 
from  the  smell  of  stale  beer  and  sickly,  perspiring 
women. 

Before  we  enter  the  biggest  cesspool  of  all,  let 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     85 

us  stop  at  Buxbaum's  Cafe  at  Twenty-second  and 
State  streets,  —  the  most  notorious  outside-levee  dive 
in  the  city  of  Chicago. 

Its  habitues,  with  few  exceptions,  are  the  over- 
flow, the  outcasts  of  the  levee,  or  the  women  who 
seek  a  few  moments  of  so-called  relaxation  from  their 
labors  of  sin. 

All  night  this  place  reeks  with'  infamy ;  all  night 
orgies  impossible  to  portray  are  carried  on ;  all  night 
the  saturnalia  of  vice  wrings  the  blood  from  women's 
hearts  and  crushes  life  in  its  ever  grinding  mill. 

South  of  the  street  where  we  have  stopped,  the 
cafes  continue.  Again  they  take  on  an  air  of  respect- 
ability and  trap  the  young  and  innocent  girls  and 
with  hands  dripping  with  blood  the  vampires  of  vice 
push  them  on  and  on,  until  they  reach  the  point  where 
we  have  stopped. 

We  are  on  the  shores  of  a  Lake  of  Infamy.  The 
tributaries  flow  from  the  north,  the  south  and  the 
west,  coursing  through  every  section  of  the  city, 
sweeping  their  victims  in  a  surging  current,  without 
hope  of  rescue  to  the  waters,  whose  eddies  close  for- 
ever over  the  drowned.  The  cafes  and  disorderly 
saloons  and  dance  halls  are  the  traps  at  the  beginning 
of  the  avenues  of  vice.  They  are  the  feeders  to  the 
infamous  hotels.  The  chain  has  no  missing  link.  The 
Vice  Trust  has  made  it  in  perfect  manner. 

We  are  standing  on  the  shores  of  a  lake  —  that 
lake  is  one  of  the  ''redlight"  districts  of  Chicago. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  "Redlight"  District. 

The  "Redlight"  District  —  Houses  of  Infamy  —  The  Life 

of   a   Prostitute  —  The    Blood    Price  —  Hidden 

Tragedies  —  The  Polluted  Grave. 

Chicago  possesses  four  "redlight"  districts :  one 
on  the  South  side,  one  on  the  West  side,  one  on  the 
North  side  and  the  Strand  of  South  Chicago. 

For  the  sake  of  description  we  have  taken  the 
one  situated  on  the  South  side,  —  running  from 
Eighteenth  street  on  the  north  to  Twenty-second  street 
on  the  south,  and  from  Wabash  avenue  on  the  east 
to  Armour  avenue  on  the  west. 

It  came  into  existence  in  1905  when  Mayor  Carter 
H.  Harrison,  the  present  city  executive,  cleaned  out 
old  Custom  House  place,  Plymouth  court  and  South 
Clark  street,  the  nest  of  vice,  bounding  the  south  end 
of  the  commercial  district. 

It  established  a  new  territory  and  flourishes  as 
prosperously  today  as  it  did  in  its  old  haunts. 

Within  the  zone  described  250  houses  of  ill  fame 
house  the  unfortunate  women,  lure  men  of  all  con- 
ditions in  life,  grow  rich  on  sin  and  on  the  practice 
of  every  form  of  bestial  degeneracy. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY      89 

There  are  2,000  enslaved,  scarlet  women  in  these 
infectious  prisons ! 

They  are  of  every  nation  in  the  world! 

They  are  young  girls  in  their  teens ;  women  in 
mature  years  and  hags  who  liave  outlived  their  use- 
fulness to  the  god  of  lust ! 

There  is  an  army  of  500  to  800  human  vultures  — 
"cadets"  who  live  within  this  district,  prodding  these 
women  on  in  the  paths  of  evil ! 

There  are  ram'shackle  hell-holes  that  are  falling 
to  pieces  where  diseased,  broken-down,  forgotten 
women  dispense  deadly  toxins  to  their  customers  for 
fifty  cents ! 

There  a/re  "one  dollar,"  "tvvo  dollar,"  "three  dol- 
lar," "five  dollar"  and  "ten  dollar"  h'ouses.  Those 
are  the  prices  for  some  mother's  precious  darling! 
A^an  buys  and   woman  sells. 

There  are  holes  of  infamy  where  w'hite  and  colored 
persons  mix  and   sin  together. 

There  are  places  where  the  sins  that  wiped  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  out  of  existence  are  practiced  nightly. 

There  are  places  where  pro'stitutes  outrival  in  the 
forms  of  obscene  acting  anything  to  be  found  in  the 
Monmartre  and  other  deadly  places  within  the  con- 
fines of  Paris. 

There  are  places  of  material  filth',  and  uncleanli- 
ness  and  there  are  places  where  thousands  of  dollars 
have  been  spent  to  make  sepulchres  appear  as  places 
of  delight  and  pleasure. 

Think  of  it ! 

Two  thousand  women  on  the  -slave  block  of  lust 


90     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

sold  to  the  thousands  of  bidders  nightly,  in  this  small 
district ! 

Lust,  vice,  crime  and  graft  are  the  deities  of 
Chicago's   "redlight"   districts. 

The  "redlight"  district  gets  its  name  because  of 
the  lurid,  crimson  signs  that  hang  above  its  en- 
trances. The  name  "redlight"  should  signify  a  burn- 
ing, blazing  warning  to  every  man  and  woman  who 
is  tempted  to  set  his  foot  or  hers  on  the  orime-reeking 
thresholds ! 

Let  us  enter  one  of  the  houses  and  study  the  in- 
terior and  the  type  of  the  prostitutes  corralled  within. 

The  swinging  doors  admit  us.  As  we  appear,  a 
dozen  girls  or  women  rush  at  us  like  a  flock  of  vult- 
ures, ravenous,  hungering. 

They  use  terms  of  meaningless  endearment,  fight 
among  themselves  for  the  possible  prey,  coax  us  to 
purchase  a  bottle  of  beer  or  whiskey  or  a  mixed  drink. 
They  attempt  to  embrace  us,  to  kiss  us  to  arouse 
latent  passions,  whose  outburst  means  half  the  pur- 
chase price  to  them  and  half  to  the  owner  of  the  place. 

A  "professor,"  half-crazed  by  drugs  and  drink, 
thumps  the  latest  airs  on  a  piano,  or  a  mechanical 
instrument  furnishes  the  noise.  You  are  asked  to 
give  a  dime  to  the  "professor"  and  you  do. 

You  are  talking  to  a  frail,  blue-eyed,  blonde  girl. 
Aoross  the  room  a  brunette,  a  red-haired  girl  and  a 
girl  with  raven  black  hair  and  sparkling  eyes  watch 
you,  wondering  as  to  the  ultimate  success  of  the 
woman  who  captured  you. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     91 

THE   QUESTIONS   UNANSWERED. 

Where  do  these  thousandls  of  women  come  from? 

What  are  their  varied  pasts? 

WhO'  are  their  mothers  and   fathers? 

What  strange  circumstances  brought  them  here? 

Who  is  'accountable  to  God  for  this  wholesale 
slaughter  in  women's  souls? 

Those  are  questions  that  come  to  the  mind  when 
one  enters  any  den  of  infamy  in  any  of  the  four 
"redlight"  districts  of  Chicago. 

Every  one  of  these  questions  has  a  thousand  an- 
swers. The  solutions  to  these  social  problems  are  as 
numerous  as  the  women  who  create  the  problems. 

These  women  come  from  every  city  in  the  United 
States,  from  the  farm  houses  of  God-fearing  farmers, 
from  the  gabled  cottage  of  little  country  towns,  from 
the  hovels  of  the  poor  of  the  great  city  and  from 
the  palaces  of  the  rich  of  the  same  city. 

Thev  come  from  across  the  great  ocean :  —  from 
England,  Scotland,  Ireland.  France,  Germany,  Italy, 
Austria  and  every  nation  you   can  name. 

Thirty-three  per  cent  of  the  women  in  the  "red- 
light"  districts  of  Chicago  are  the  victims  of  the  most 
pernicious  vice  system  known  to  history.  They  are 
the  victims  of  the  much-talked  of  and  much-discussed 
White  Slave  Traffic. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  in  this  chapter  to  treat  of  this 
cancerous,  moral  growth.  It  is  of  such  vital  impor- 
tance in  a  story  of  crime  and  vice  and  graft  that  we 
will  dissect  and  analyze  it  in  a  distinct  chapter.     We 


92      THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

are   obliged    for  the   sake   of  our   narrative   to   name 
it  here. 

This  portion  of  the  vice  population  is  the  women 
who  have  been  lured  by  'a  thousand  satanic  means  to 
a  life  of  shame  and  sin,  and  once  steeped  in  the  at- 
mosphere give  up  all  hope  or  attempt  to  regain  a 
lost  social  standing,  a  new  moral  conscience  or  a  clean 
body. 

THE  FEEDERS  OF  THE  "REDLIGHT"  DISTRICTS. 

The  other  portion  of  this  crime  colony  reach  the 
centers  of  vice  through  the  thousands  of  channels 
which  serve  such  purposes  in  the  city  of  Chicago. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  cafe  evil,  the  dance  hall, 
the  cheap  theater  and  the  vicious  hotel.  These  are 
the  major  channels.  Yearly,  hundreds  of  girls  go 
from  one  grade  of  badness  to  a  lower,  until  there  is 
nothing  left  but  the  house  of  ill  fame  in  which  to 
hide  theiir  shame,  feed  their  passions  and  nourish 
their  broken-down  bodies. 

The  girl  clerk  in  the  department  store  tires  of 
trying  to  live  on  her  six  dollars  a  week  salary ;  grows 
envious  of  the  women  who  have  pretty  clothes  and 
costly  jewelry,  and  sets  about  to  sell  her  young  body 
to  buy  the  luxuries  of  life.  The  end  is  inevitably  the 
house  of  prostitution. 

Or  it  may  be,  that  some  depraved  man,  possibly 
her  employer,  lusts  for  her  purity  and  with  threats  of 
discharge  coerces  her  into  sin.  She  never  stops,  it  is 
a  succession  of  falls  to  the  last  level  of  degradation. 

Another,  three  years  ago  may  have  visited  a  Bo- 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     93 

hemian  cafe  to  see  the  sights  and  taste  the  wine.  She 
goes  back  again  and  again.  Beyond  her  confines  are 
the  forbidden  sins,  luring  and  coaxing.  She  will  taste 
of  them,  promising  herself  that  she  will  go  back  to 
her  former  life  and  never  venture  into  the  pathways 
of  sin  again.  The  step  is  taken  and  the  barrier  erects 
itself  behind  her  —  she  can  never  come  back.  Gradu- 
ally she  drifts  down  to  the  hell  haunts  and  with  reck- 
lessness as  to  the  future,  becomes  an  inmate  of  a  dive. 

There  is  no  standing  still  in  any  phase  of  life  — 
good  or  evil.  There  is  no  stationary  point  in  vice. 
The  beginnings  are  eternally  different;  the  endings  of 
the  Scarlet  Women  are  eternally  the  same. 

These  women  just  described,  can  ^scarcely  be  called 
White  Slaves  in  the  proper  sense  of  that  term.  They 
are  "slaves,"  but  they  brought  the  slavery  upon  them- 
selves. 

The  Summer  excursions  on  the  lake  in  large  pleas- 
ure boats  where  vice  can  revel  without  fear  and 
where  young  boys  and  girls  without  any  restraint  fall 
into  sins  that  lead  to  terrible  social  evils,  are  another 
primary  "feeder"  for  the  "redlight"  districts.  The 
city  asleep  does  not  realize  the  fact  that  the  "moon- 
light" excursions  on  the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan 
start  a  hundred  girls  on  the  road  to  ruin  and  the 
prostitute's  grave  in  one  night! 

And  this  is  the  first  chapter  of  the  women  dressed 
in  scarlet  tonight. 

Above  these  women  like  an  ominous  shadow  is 
Man  and  His  Lust !  Man  and  his  insatiable  passions ! 
Man  who  reckons  not  the  destruction  he  sows  about 


94     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

him,  the  homes  he  robs  of  precious  ones,  the  broken- 
hearted mothers  and  fathers  sent  to  an  earrly  grave 
because  he  inoculated  some  innocent  child  with  his 
venom. 

To  fit  our  descriptions,  somewhere,  you  can  find 
in  the  "redlight"  districts  a  woman  who  will  stand  up 
and  say : 

"That  is  my  story." 

In  one  night  in  the  South  side  "redlight"  district  in 
a  visit  to  eight  houses,  twenty-one  girls  were  found 
who  stated  that  soulless  men,  who  made  capital  of 
their  ignorance  of  the  world  and  its  ways,  robbed  them 
of  their  virtue  while  they  were  under  the  influence 
of  their  first  drink,  or  stole  their  virginity  after  they 
had  promised  to  marry  them. 

THE   DAILY    LIFE   OF   A   PROSTITUTE. 

But  to  return  to  the  scarlet  woman  as  she  is  today. 
Here  is  the  routine  life  of  the  prostitute  in  the  levee 
district : 

The  women  in  a  house  rise  about  two  o'clock 
ini  the  afternoon,  dress  and  eat  their  breakfast. 

They  are  then  sent  by  the  "landlady"  or  keeper 
of  the  house  to  the  parlors,  to  wait  for  prospective 
customers. 

When  a  customer  comes  in  he  is  "sized  up."  If 
he  appears  to  be  a  spender  and  buys  plenty  of  drinks, 
courtesy  is  extended  to  him  and  an  effort  made  to 
keep  him  as  long  as  his  money  lasts.  If  he  is  "a  dead 
one"  he  iis  forced  to  pay  his  price  and  depart  as 
speedily  as  possible. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     95 

These  women  entertain  as  many  as  thirty  men 
in  one  night.  That  is  the  record  at  least,  that  one 
g-irl  declared  she  was  forced  to  maintain. 

At  six  o'clock,  or  near  that  hour,  supper  is  served 
to  these  women ;  a  number  of  them  in  a  house  eat 
while  the  others  stay  "on  watch." 

Then  the  evening's  work  begins.  By  midnight  a 
greater  part  of  these  lost  souls  are  maudlin  drunk. 

Their  work  continues  until  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  when  they  are  allowed  to  seek  rest. 

Even  then  the  evil  does  not  sleep.  There  is  the 
"dog  watch."  One  or  two  girls  face  a  day  of  horror. 
They  are  kept  .ready  for  the  lax  hours  of  business. 

Many  of  these  women  do  not  live  in  the  houses. 
They  live  in  the  flats  bordering  on  the  "redlight" 
districts. 

THE   SLAVES   OF  THE   "CADETS." 

Ninety  per  cent  of  these  open  prostitutes  have 
"cadets."  These  men  exercise  the  power  of  tyrants 
over  them,  urging  them  on  to  death,  beating  them 
brutally  when  their  tired  out  bodies  dirop  from  ex- 
'haustion,  and  stealing  their  bodily  earnings  from  them. 

These  women  cannot  purchase  a  single  article 
without  the  consent  of  the  landlady.  Two  thirds  of 
them  have  the  bondage  of  debt  hanging  above  them 
and  keeping  them  prisoners.  The  landlady  buys  their 
clothes  'and  charges  them  exorbitant  prices  and  they 
are  obliged  to  pay  without  a  murmur. 

These  conditions  exist  in  the  cheapest  and  the 
most  expensive  houses  in  the  levee  districts.     There 


96     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

is  an  air  of  luxury  about  the  big  houses  but  the  scarlet 
prisoners  within  are  all  the  same,  all  slaves,  all  sub- 
jects of  the  great  Vice  Trust. 

The  women  in  the  poorer  houses  have  white  men 
for  ''cadets."  In  the  higher  priced  placeSj  we  find  that 
the  women  are  in  the  bondage  of  negro  "cadets." 

And  all  this  infamy,  seething,  boiling  and  emitting 
its  stench  in  the  center  of  the  city  of  Chicago! 

Standing  out  among  the  small  hovels  in  the  South 
side  vice  district  are  several  large  and  pretentious 
ones,  whose  interior  furnishings  are  valued  at  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars. 

BIG  PALACES  OF  VICE. 

The  Everleigh  Club,  at  Twenty-second  and  Dear- 
born streets,  the  richest  and  most  gorgeously  fur- 
nished house  of  prostitution  in  the  United  States,  is 
a  notable  example.    Another  one  is  Georgie  Spencer's. 

Honesty  never  cemented  a  single  stone  in  the 
building.  It  was  built  and  furnished  out  of  the  blood 
and  flesh  dollars  of  women.  Its  foundations  reach 
down  to  hell  and  each  chamber  with  its  beautiful 
settings  is  filled  with  the  ghosts  of  women  who  suf- 
fered untold  agonies  of  mind  and  body  to  make  it 
attractive  to  victims  of  the  women  who  followed  them. 
Thousands  of  dollars  are  harvested  nightly  there. 
Wealthy  prominent  men  frequent  this  place. 

Immorality  is  hideous ;  but  there  crimes  are  com- 
mitted against  nature  that  make  men  revolt  at  the 
thoughts  of  them,  down  in  those  pest  holes.  In  the 
slang  of  the  levee,  it  is  called  "putting  on  a  show." 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     97 

It  is  bad  enough  to  be  obliged  through  binding 
circumstances  to  sell  one's  virtue,  but  think  of  the 
horror,  the  humiliation,  the  degradation  of  committing 
acts  for  the  sake  of  drunken,  orgy-loving  men  that 
even  the  animal  nature  within  us  rebels  against. 

That  is  a  hasty  sketch  of  the  "redlight"  life  as  the 
visitor  sees  it.  There  is  still  another  phase,  a  deeper 
phase,  a  commercial  phase,  a  graft  phase,  and  of  that 
we  shall  speak  later  as  it  is  our  intention  to  show  why 
these  conditions  exist  without  hindrance  from  the 
police  and  how  this  mighty  army  of  Satan  strives, 
struggles  and  dies  for  the  earthly  lords  of  hell. 

There  is  no  intention  here  to  paint  a  lurid  picture 
of  Chicago's  ulcer  spots  that  might  arouse  passions 
and  do  evil. 

We  are  telling  of  the  Great  Curse  that  we  may 
help  destroy  it.  We  have  said  that  the  wiping  out 
of  the  prostitute  will  not  cure  the  malady  and  we  are 
soon  to  prove  it.  We  have  told  of  vice  that  we  may 
show  how  it  serves  its  masters. 

THE  HIDDEN  TRAGEDIES. 

Who  can  depict  the  crying,  aching  hearts  of  these 
lost  women  of  the  levees? 

Who  can  tell  of  the  agonies  undergone  in  their 
short  existences? 

Who  can  know  of  the  sleepless  nights,  of  the  hours 
of  remorse  and  despair? 

Who  can  imagine  the  physical  pain  of  the  eating, 
wasting  diseases? 

All    the    world's    wretchedness,    sorrow,    hunger, 


98     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

thirst  and  suffering  lies  behind  the  lurid  ligfhts  of  the 
"redilight"  haunts.  Behind  the  paint  and  powder  is 
the  'blue-white  color  of  coming  death. 

Every  year,  a  thousand  of  these  women  outlive 
their  usefulness  to  their  brutal  masters !  This  is  the 
record  for  one  city.  Authorities  say  this  record  for 
the  country   is  60,000! 

WHAT  BECOMES  OF  THEM? 

We  shudder  as  we  answer  that  question. 

Many  of  them  seek  the  river  as  a  last  resting 
place  and  their  bodies  are  cast  ashore  to  lie  in  the 
county  morgue  a  week,  and  then  to  be  buried  in  the 
paupers'  field. 

Many  of  them  go  insane  and  are  taken  to  state 
institutions  where  death  soon  mercifully  comes  and 
wipes  out  their  useless  lives. 

Many  of  them  are  cast  forth  from  the  dens  where 
they  have  turned  their  every  drop  of  blood  to  gold 
for  their  masters,  and  are  picked  up  dead  in  the 
alleys  and  streets  of  the  city. 

Some  are  sent  to  other  cities  to  die,  and  leave  no 
reflections  on  the  men  and  women  that  turned  them 
out. 

God  has  destroyed  cities  for  lesser  evils,  but  Chi- 
cago lives  on,  fattening  on  the  dead  bodies  of  these 
victims ! 

As  the  parade  of  lost  women  moves  slowly  to  the 
grave  the  tributaries  pour  more  souls  into  the  lake  of 
infamy  and  there  is  no  place  left  unfilled ! 

No  woman  going  down   there  knows  of  the  ter- 


The  vice  bondage  of  a  great  city    99 

rible  possibilities  until  it  is  too  late.  That  is  the 
secret  of  vice ;  its  lying  lips  belch  forth  the  truth  only 
when  its  shackles  are  welded  about  the  limbs  of  its 
victims. 

Lust  beckons.  The  eternal  woman  answers  and 
approaches  the  poisoned  spring  and  drinks.  The 
eternal  man  is  there.  On  and  on  he  leads  her,  casts 
her  away  when  he  has  tired,  and  the  Vice  Trust  with 
its  directorate  of  powerful  politicians,  debased  men, 
takes  her  and  reaps  its  awful  profit  from  her. 

Vice  first:  then  Graft.  Graft  formulated  in  the 
minds  of  men :  Vice  born  in  the  blood  of  women. 

Death  —  dishonored   death  to  the  woman. 

Wealth  —  overflowing  wealth  to  the   Grafter. 

We  have  seen  the  city  in  many  phases.  We  have 
not  taken  into  consideration  the  army  of  women  who 
maintain  superficial  respectability,  who  live  at  homes, 
some  of  them  with  husbands  and  children,  and  who 
yeilding  to  temptation  are  carrying  on  laisons. 

They  are  called  "clandestine"  women.  They  may 
be  found  in  all  walks  of  life. 

There  are,  normally  estimated,  15,000  women  of 
this  type  in  the  city  of  Chicago! 

Are  you  convinced  that  Chicago  is  the  "wickedest 
city  in  the  world"? 


CHAPTER  V. 

What  Will  You  Bid  for  This 
Woman? 

White    Slavery  —  Price    of    a    Body    and    Soul  —  Hell's 

Bondage  —  The    "Cadet"    Master  —  Death   the 

Penalty  —  The  Trapping  of  the  Prey. 

Thirty-three  per  cent  of  the  women  fed  to  the 
insatiable  god  of  hist  in  the  "redHght"  districts  of 
Chicago  are  White  Slaves ! 

Nearly  two  thousand  women,  annually,  are  sold 
to  the  highest  vice  bidders ! 

They  are  procured  from  every  imaginable  source 
and  by  every  imaginable  method. 

Thousands  of  women  drift  yearly  into  a  life  of 
prostitution,  driven  to  it  hy  hunger  and  want  primarily. 

Why  then  must  others  be  sought  out,  trapped, 
brought,  bound  and  tied,  stood  on  the  auction  blocks 
of  vice  and  sold  to  the  thump  of  the  gavel? 

Because  the  demand  is  far  greater  than  the  supply ! 

Hell  is  always  hungry ;  the  taste  of  blood  on  the 
lips  of  the  monster  Vice,  drives  him  mad  with  desire 
for  more  blood ;  the  crushing  of  bones  and  the  morsels 
of  white  woman's  iiesh,  frenzies  him  for  other  bodies! 

More  women  !  more  women  !  —  that  is  the  cry. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     101 

It  is  a  difficult  problem.  The  question  arises,  is 
it  simply  a  feeding  of  men's  passions  that  must  be 
satisfied  or  is  it  a  desire  to  make  men  hunger  and 
buy  because  the  women  are  placed  in  their  pathways, 
so  that  the  vice  lords  may  reap  the  harvest? 

We  believe  the  latter  is  God's  truth,  or  rather  the 
devil's  truth ! 

Many  a  man  would  not  be  the  brute  of  unre- 
strained passion  that  he  is,  if  his  paths  v/ere  clear  of 
temptations. 

The  temptations  are  placed,  the  White  Slaves  are 
purchased  to  make  gold  and  silver  for  the  wretches 
who  create,  nourish  and  commercialize  vice. 

It  isn't  vice  that  is  robbing  homes  of  innocent  girls 
each  year.     It  is  the  Commerce  and  Traffic  of  Sin. 

The  White  Slave  Trust  is  a  perfect  organization 
existing  in  the  city  of  Chicago  today. 

Its  agents  procure  the  flesh  and  blood  product  from 
every  source,  its  agents  peddle  the  human  article,  from 
^house  of  ill  fame  to  house  of  ill  fame ;  sell  it,  take 
the  profit  and  divide  with  the  members  of  an  in- 
famous combine. 

THE    TRAPPING    OF   THE    PREY. 

There  are  150  professional  procurers  or  "buyers" 
for  the  White  Slave  corporation ! 

There  are  at  least  300  more  men  who  at  times 
act  as  procurers  and  at  other  times  as  "cadets." 

There  are  thousands  of  other  men  in  every  walk 
of  life  who  aire  constantly  on  the  lookout  for  a  possible 


102     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

victim  for  whose  sale  they  reap  a  small  return  in 
bloodstained  dollars. 

The  professional  procurer,  hired  by  the  members 
of  this  trust ;  the  owners  of  houses  of  prostitution  or 
men  whose  business  depends  on  the  prosperity  of 
places  of  ill  fame  —  play  on  the  three  inherent  charac- 
teristics of  every  woman's  heart  — 

Ambition,  vanity  and  love ! 

By  attacking  the  points  of  weakness  they  trap  their 
victims. 

Out  in  the  country  town  they  dazzle  the  fresh, 
pretty  creatures  by  stories  of  the  pleasures  and  de- 
lights of  life  in  the  big  city,  by  making  love  to  in- 
nocent children,  by  depriving  them  of  their  sacred 
chastity. 

In  the  city  they  appeal  to  their  vanity :  they  tell 
them  they  are  beautiful,  loveable ;  they  promise  them 
clothes  and  jewelry,  and  again  the  woman  falls. 

Every  form  of  amusement,  from  the  nickel  theaters 
to  the  wine  rooms,  is  used  to  entice  the  prey. 

Outside  the  professional  procurer,  the  city  is  in- 
fested with  men  who  make  the  business  a  side  issue. 

The  extra  procurers  are  found  in  the  department 
stores,  in  the  dance  halls,  in  the  nickel  theaters  and 
penny  arcades,  in  the  waiting  rooms  of  the  railroad 
stations,  on  the  lake  boats,  at  excursions,  at  rest 
room's,  at  employment  agencies,  theatrical  agencies, 
factories,  business  offices,  and  a  hundred  other  places 
where  girls  are  employed  at  meager  salaries. 

AND  ALL  THIS  TO  FILL  THE  ROTTEN 
COFFERS  OF  THE  VICE  TRUST! 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY  103 
PRICE  OF  ONE  BODY,  ONE  HEART,  ONE  SOUL. 

In  i860  one  black  woman  was  sold  for  $25  ! 

In  i860  one  Wack  woman  was  sold  for  $500! 

You  shudder  When  you  remember  those  times ! 

In  191 1,  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  one  white  woman 
is  sold  for  $25. 

In  191 1,  in  the  same  city,  one  white  woman  is 
sold  for  $500 ! 

Slavery  succeeded  by  slavery,  or  worse  than 
slavery ! 

THE    TRAFFIC    OF    WHITE    SLAVERY! 

After  a  victim  is  procured,  the  next  step  on  the 
part  of  the  perfidious  combine  is  to  dispose  of  her 
to  the  highest  bidder. 

Absolute  examples  of  women-selling  and  the  prices 
paid  by  resort  keepers  for  the  women  purchased  are 
in  the  hands  of  the  federal  government.  Uncle  Sam 
does  not  tolerate  fiction.  That  is  why  we  know  this 
is  the  truth. 

Investigation  has  shown  that  the  prices  for  women 
sold  into  bondage  of  crime  run  from  $25  to  $500. 

That  scale  is  sliding  and  depends  on  the  qualities, 
mostly  physical,  of  the  woman,  and  the  immediate 
demands  of  the  purchaser. 

A  girl  taken  by  a  procurer  who  has  dazzled  her 
by  his  insidious  lies,  and  who  is  not  of  a  type  that 
would  attract  men  of  wealth  or  particular  tastes,  can 
be  bought  by  a  keeper  of  a  house  of  ill  fame  from  the 


104    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

agents  of  the  White   Slave  Trust   for  the   inhuman 
price  of  $25. 

If  the  girl  is  ruddy  with  the  glow  of  health,  well- 
formed  of  limb  and  innocent  of  deep  crime  —  the 
price  soars. 

Cases  have  been  cited  by  ministers  and  reformers 
within  the  past  year,  where  keepers  of  high-priced 
houses  in  the  levee  districts  have  paid  outright,  $500 
to  the  White  Slave  combine's  agents  for  girls  whose 
purity  has  only  been  defiled  by  the  procurer  himself, 
and)  whose  bodies  are  capable  of  bringing  their  masters 
thousands  of  dollars  within  the  year. 

These  are  the  treasure-slaves  of  the  hell-hounds ! 
It  is  of  standing  record,  according  to  an  in- 
vestigator into  the  flesh  traffic,  that  one  procurer  in 
one  trip  into  the  country  districts  of  Illinois,  trapped 
eight  girls  and  sold  them  at  prices  ranging  from 
$40  to  $350! 

One  of  these  girls  was  a  virgin.  She  was  drugged 
by  the  procurer  and  awoke  the  next  morning  to  find 
that  she  was  a  prisoner  in  a  house  of  ill  fame.  She 
had  been  sold  while  robbed  of  her  senses.  She  had 
been  outraged  while  unconscious.  The  landlady  ap- 
proached her  the  next  morning  with  an  air  of  good 
fellowship,  told  of  the  'benefits  of  the  new  life,  prom- 
ised her  beautiful  gowns  and  jewelry  before  night 
and  attempted  to  make  her  forget  the  real,  sweet  and 
pure  things  of  life  which  had  been  so  mercilessly 
stolen  from  her. 

This  is  the  story  of  but  one  out  of  thousands. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     105 

$200,000  ANNUAL  WHITE  SLAVE  PRICE. 

We  have  said  there  are  2,000  White  Slaves  sold 
every  year. 

The  average  price  is  $100  a  girl,  according  to  a 
well  known  federal  official,  who  has  investigated  and 
prosecuted  several  hundred  cases  of  White   Slavery. 

That  makes  the  aggregate  purchase  price  of  White 
Slaves  in  Chicago  annually,  $200,000 ! 

This  same  official  declared  that  the  South  side 
levee  district  contributes  $60,000  a  year  to  the  White 
Slave  Trust  for  new  victims. 

The  balance  is  paid  by  the  resort  keepers  of  the 
other  districts  of  vice  and  by  keepers  of  the  "houses 
of  call" —  the  places  where  men  of  wealth  and  bestial 
perversion  seek  for  virgins  on  whom  to  wreak  the 
fury  of  abandoned  passions ! 

Here  is  a  terrible  example  of  the  procuring  of 
an  innocent  girl  for  the  perversion  of  a  wealthy  man. 

Detectives  investigating  the  conduct  of  a  man 
implicated  in  graft  charges  affecting  the  high  per- 
sonnel of  a  big  railroad,  discovered  that  at  a  Michigan 
avenue  "house  of  call"  a  tender  and  unsullied  virgin 
procured  by  White  Slave  agents,  was  given  into  his 
lust-stained  hands  for  desecration  weekly ! 

That  same  man,  the  investigation  showed,  paid  as 
high  as  $500  for  an  undefiled  child! 

He  even  went  so  far  as  to  go  outside  of  the  city, 
in  search  of  purity  and  goodness  to  be  sacrificed  in 
the  fires  of  his  degenerate  passions. 


106    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 
THE  SHACKLES  OF  THE  WHITE  SLAVE^. 

Many  a  girl  after  a  month  of  horror,  revolts 
against  the  conditions  confronting  her;  the  terrors  in 
her  dreams  of  the  future  fill  her  soul  with  fear  and 
she  yearns  for  freedom  once  again. 

The  dreams,  which  the  stories  told  her  by  the 
procurer  aroused,  have  never  materialized ;  she  is  as 
poor  as  she  was  before  she  was  trapped  into  the  life 
of  shame ;  she  is  broken  in  spirit  and  in  health. 

Can  she  walk  out  a  free  woman? 

No.  S'he  is  a  White  Slave ;  the  slavery  is  not  just 
one  of  selling  and  purchasing ;  it  is  one  of  permanent 
bondage  in  ninety  cases  out  of  one  hundred. 

The  man  who  trapped  her  has  become  her  "cadet." 
He  is  her  "guardian"  for  her  master.  His  word  is 
law.  She  is  a  slave  forever.  She  is  treated  brutally 
if  she  makes  serious  attempts  at  escape ;  she  is  even 
locked  in  a  room  and  in  some  instances  women  have 
been  tied  hands  and  feet  to  bedposts. 

She  is  at  times  drugged  in  order  to  make  her 
forget  her  misery  and  her  plans  of  escape.  Every 
possible  precaution  is  taken  to  prevent  her  release 
from  bondage. 

Her  procurer  in  dull  times,  may  take  her  from  one 
house  and  resell  her  for  a  new  price.  She  is  thus 
bartered  as  a  dead  commodity  instead  of  a  woman 
of  flesh  and  blood. 

There  is  nothing  in  human  history  that  is  so  filled 
with  horror  as  this.     There  is  no  deeper  stain  on  the 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     107 

annals  of  this  nation  than  the  crimson  stain  of  White 
Slavery. 

It  is  the  evil  that  cries  daily  to  Heaven  for  ven- 
geance. Thousands  of  mothers  lift  their  trembling 
arms  and  cry  out  to  God  to  kill  the  monster  that  has 
eaten  their  daughters. 

And  this  White  Slave  Trust,  taking  the  money 
from  these  ill-fated  women,  turns  part  of  its  profits 
over  to  the  magnates  of  the  great  Vice  Trust,  —  to 
men  who  stand  high  in  the  world  of  politics,  to  men 
to  whom  we  intrust  the  task  of  making  our  laws  and 
administering  them ! 

The  law  stands  without  and  makes  no  effort  to 
stem  the  tide  of  infamous  traffic  in  women.  Political 
leaders  listen  to  the  voice  of  a  people's  protest,  sham 
a  "clean-up"  and  then  send  forth  the  word  to  the 
vice  lieutenants  to  "lay  low"  for  a  short  time.  With- 
in a  few  weeks,  the  monster  creeps  from  his  hiding 
place  and  feasts  ravenously  on  the  victims  piled  up 
and  waiting  for  him. 

We  'have  shown  the  price  of  these  pitiful  victims 
of  a  vice  system. 

We  are  now  ready  to  show  how  every  form  of 
vice  in  which  woman  stands  as  the  central  figure  is 
protected  by  the  police  department  at  the  command 
of  the  political  lords  and  their  friends,  in  order  that 
they  may  derive  a  vast  income  from  the  human  sac- 
rifice. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Vice  and  Graft. 

Police    Collectors  —  The    Prostitute's    Graft    Price  — The 

Kimona    Trust  —  Laundry    Trust  —  The    Woman 

and  the  "Cadet" —  Terrible   Examples  — 

To  the  Woman:   Death  —  How 

About  Your  Daughter? 

From  the  enemies  of  moral  progress  and  from 
tJhose  who  find  it  to  their  personal  interest  to  exploit 
the  shame  of  women  and  the  crimes  of  men,  the  cry- 
has  been  raised :  — 

Vice,  segregated  and  otherwise,  is  absolutely  es- 
sential in  a  large  city.  Passions  must  be  given  an 
outlet ;  lusts  must  be  allowed  to  exhaust  themselves. 

That  view,  in  the  face  of  earnest  study  of  the 
subject,  is  a  pernicious  fallacy. 

Take  away  from  man  the  open  temptation ;  cleanse 
his  paths  of  tJlie  thousand  lures  to  evil ;  bar  his  coming 
in  contact  with  the  lost  woman  as  far  as  it  is  possible 
and  you   will  minimize  vice  to  a  marvelous  degree. 

It  is  on  the  fallacy  and  sophistry  of  the  theory 
that  passions  of  men  must  be  satisfied,  that  Chicago 
today  carries  on  its  terrible  exploitation  of  vice. 

It  is  on  that  theory  that  the  Vice  Trust  has  built 
its  superstructure,  created  its  gigantic  business,  bar- 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     109 

tered  its  thousands  of  women  for  flesh-prices  and 
harvested  millions  of  dollars  annually. 

Vice  exists  under  the  conditions  which  we  have 
depicted,  because  the  Vice  Trust  —  the  all  powerful 
coterie  of  police  and   politicians,  —  wish   it. 

The  would-be  municipal  leaders,  are  the  powers 
behind  the  city's  ignominy  and  shame ! 

Every  evil  that  cries  out  in  the  big  city,  every 
crime  that  is  committed  in  the  day  or  in  the  night, 
every  vice  that  is  practiced  to  the  ruin  of  human 
souls  and  bodies,  does  so  because  the  Vice  Trust  com- 
mands it,  because  the  Vice  Trust  waits  for  its  mon- 
strous returns  from  them. 

Chicago's  four  levee  districts  with  the  hundreds 
of  resorts  and  the  thousands  of  unfortunate  inmates, 
furnish  a  tremendous  capital  to  their  owners,  but  the 
owners  have  a  lease  of  vice  existence  from  the  polit- 
ical powers  behind  and  above  them,  simply  because 
these  men  and  women  pour  into  their  coffers  a  con- 
stant stream  of  graft  money. 

The  saloon  evil,  the  cafe  evil,  the  hotel,  the  dance 
hall,  obscene  theater  evil,  the  "house  of  call,"  "flat" 
and  White  Slave  evil,  pay  a  tribute  of  existence  to  the 
agents  of  the  big  alliance  who  have  the  political 
power  to  crush  them  out  of  existence  if  they  so 
desired. 

That  is  why  we  stand  on  the  statement  that  if  the 
CORRUPT  POLITICIANS  and  their  slaves  and 
corrupt  police  officials  were  stripped  of  their  power 
and   sent   to  the  penitentiary,   Chicago  could   swiftly 


no     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

purge  herself  and  become  the  City  Beautiful  in  the 
most  ideal  meaning  of  the  term. 

THE   TRIUMVIRATE. 

The  evil  lies  today  in  the  alliance  between  Vice, 
Police  and  the  Politician ! 

T'h'e  sore  festers  so  that  the  matter  running  from 
it  may  be  turned  into  dollars  and  cents  by  men  we 
elect  at  the  polls  each  election ! 

It  is  our  purpose  in  this  chapter  to  show  in  cold, 
conservative  figures,  just  the  price  that  vice  pays  to 
its  political  masters  to  live;  just  the  gold  that  is 
beaten  from  women's  bodies  so  that  the  political  bosses 
can  be  given  their  share  and  the  slave  masters  of 
prostitutes  can  still  make  a  profit. 

We  shall  show  that  from  every  possible  channel 
graft  is  derived.  We  shall  show  that  to  the  big 
powers  goes  the  big  share ;  to  their  friends  go  smaller 
amounts,  so  that  the  pie  is  so  divided  that  a  tempting 
morsel  is  cut  for  all  the  favored  few. 

PRICE  OF  PROTECTING  VICE. 

"Give  me  so  much  gold  from  the  earnings  of  de- 
filed women  and  we  willi  give  you  so  much  protection, 
so  much  liberty  and  so  many  privileges,"  offers  the 
directorate  of  the  Vice  Trust. 

That  protection  money  is  counted  out :  so  much 
per  woman,  so  much  per  sin,  so  much  per  vice. 

The  Vice  Trust  of  the  grafting  directorate  accepts 
the  money  and  vice  lives  and  flourislhes. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     111 

The  purchased  souls  of  policemen,  ready  to  do  the 
bidding  of  the  graft  masters,  are  the  agents  through 
which  this  protective  power  is  dispensed,  in  the 
primary  matter  of  existence. 

Graft  for  protection  is  the  vital  graft  and  the 
primary  one.  Policemen  collect  this  themselves  and 
turn  it  over  to  their  superior  officers.  Their  superior 
officers  in  turn  take  out  their  percentage  for  the  dam- 
nable work  and  pass  the  bulk  on  to  "men  higher  up." 

The  graft  for  police  protection  is  not  always  paid 
to  policemen.  High  officials,  fearing  that  their  hi. id 
may  show  in  corrupt  and  incriminating  transactions, 
hire  private  and  debased  citizens  to  carry  on  this  per- 
nicious work  of  collecting  from  the  resort  keepers 
and  from  those  whose  business  depends  on  the  resorts. 

That  is  the  graft  exacted  for  the  simple  existence 
of  prostitution  and  the  carrying  on  of  the  trade  in 
women's  bodies. 

The  more  the  earnings  of  the  house  of  ill  fame, 
the  higher  the  value  of  the  women  enslaved,  the  more 
liberty  granted  to  make  hellish  profits,  the  greater 
the  protective  graft. 

As  a  corroboration  of  our  flat  statement  we  have 
scores  of  men  of  prominence  in  every  walk  of 
life  who  have  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  existence 
of  this  alliance  of  vice  and  graft. 

Recently,  an  attorney  whose  business  takes  him 
into  the  "redlight"  district  on  the  South  side,  made 
the  following  statement  in  a  Chicago  daily  paper : 

"There  is  one  police  official  who  should  be  punished 
for  his  activity   in  collecting  tribute   for  the  protec- 


112    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

tion  he  dispenses  to  levee  resort  keepers.  He  is  a 
smooth  article,  however,  and  he  goes  straight  to  head- 
quarters in  a  fine  show  of  indignation  whenever  any- 
one makes  any  charges  against  him. 

"My  business  takes  me  into  the  district  and  I  know 
that  there  is  a  regular  tax  levied  on  these  people.  It 
all  depends  on  the  size  of  the  establishment  and  the 
amount  of  business  done.  The  collecting  is  done  by 
plain  clothes  men  who  turn  it  over  to  a  police  official 
and  he  takes  or  sends  it  to  a  higher  ofificial  and  after 
he  takes  out  his  share  the  balance  goes  to  a  city  official. 
I've  had  that  told  me  so  many  times  by  so  many  dif- 
ferent persons,  some  of  them  policemen,  that  I  know 
it  is  true. 

"But  you  couldn't  get  a  person  in  the  district  to 
talk;  they  are  run  out  of  the  district  as  soon  as  they 
threaten  trouble." 

The  man  who  made  the  above  statement  is  one 
of  the  most  prominent  attorneys  in  Chicago.  He  is 
simply  corroborating  our  charge  of  the  existence  of 
the  practice  of  protection. 

The  high  city  ofificial  to  whom  the  money  goes 
and  to  whom  he  refers  is  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
great  Vice  and  Graft  Trust ;  a  man  who  has  made 
thousands  of  dollars  by  corrupting  the  power  placed 
in  his  h'ands,  and  who  today  continues  in  the  face 
of  reform  movements,  to  instruct  his  sycophantic 
police  officials  to  allow  vice  to  flourish  just  as  long  as 
it  pours  its  gold  into  his  coffers. 

As  an  instance  that  vice  is  shut  down  when  it  fails 
to  make  its  tribute,  we  quote  the  following  story  from 


THE  DRUGGED  CONSCIENCE. 


Copyrighteil     iqiu    l)y    The    Midniglit    Mission. 
Used    by    peniiission    of    owners    of    copyright. 

Steeped    in    iniquity.  —  Blind    to    his    sin. — 
One  step  from  eternal  ruin. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     113 

a  well  known  criminal  lawyer.  It  is  astonishing  in 
its  features  and  in  its  revelations.     This  man  said :  — 

"I  was  obliged  in  the  course  of  my  professional 
duties  while  searching  for  a  woman  important  to  a 
case  at  hand  to  visit  the  Empire  Hotel  on  Wabash 
avenue.  A  week  before  my  visit  I  had  read  that  the 
police  had  raided  the  hotel  and  arrested  several  girls 
who  lived  there.  These  girls  were  not  prosecuted  and 
were  discharged  the  morning  after  their  arrest.  The 
matter  was  fresh  in  my  mind  when  I  made  my  visit. 
I  questioned  the  proprietress  of  the  hotel  as  to  the 
recent  raid,  and  she  smiled  at  me  and  said: 

"  *Oh,  we  have  to  stand  for  these  police  gags. 
You  see  we  weren't  paying  protection  money  and  they 
simply  raided  us  as  a  warning.  We  are  running  full 
blast  now  and  without  any  police  interference,  be- 
cause we  are  coming  across  every  week  with  our 
protection  price.'  " 

The  protection  money  is  gathered  principally  in 
the  levee  districts  but  it  also  comes  from  every  other 
place  in  the  city  where  vice  is  made  a  business. 

The  protection  money  that  is  exacted  from  the 
keeper  of  the  brothel  is  exacted  from  the  keeper  of 
the  hotel,  cafe,  saloon  and  other  species  of  places  of 
infamy. 

Here  is  another  example  of  the  truth  of  the  story 
of  protective  graft. 

An  investigator  for  the  Vice  Commission  corrobo- 
rates our  own  investigation. 

This  investigator  witnessed  the  following  scene 
and  conversation. 


114    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

A  man  who  had  remained  in  a  South  side  levee 
resort  all  night,  complained  to  the  poHce  the  next  day 
that  he  had  been  roblDed  of  fifty  dollars  by  one  of 
the  inmates. 

Accompanied  by  two  detectives  from  the  Twenty- 
second  street  police  station,  the  man  went  to  the  house. 

The  landlady,  when  she  heard  his  charge,  became 
angry  and  while  the  investigator  listened  made  this 
remark : 

"That  man  never  possessed  fifty  dollars  in  liis  life. 
It's  a  frame  up.  Why  are  you  police  bothering  me? 
Are  you  looking  for  more  money?  What  do  you 
want?     I  paid  my  protection  money  two  days  ago." 

We  will  show  the  price  exacted  from  the  pros- 
titute's master  in  order  that  she  may  exist  as  a 
creature  of  vice  and  sell  every  drop  of  blood  in  her 
body  to  make  more  money. 

FIGURES   THAT    FREEZE   THE   BLOOD. 

In  an  investigation  that  took  in  the  cases  of  500 
prostitutes  it  was  found  that  their  average  earnings 
were  $100  a  week. 

We  are  aiming  to  be  conservative.  Let  us  place 
the  average  earnings  at  forty  dollars  a  week,  as  a 
basis   for  figuring  out   some  astounding  results. 

There  are  5,000  outright  prostitutes  in  the  city  of 
Chicago.  Five  thousand  women  making  forty  dollars 
a  week  will  make  $200,000  a  week. 

Five  thousand  women  at  forty  dollars  a  week 
earn  in  one  year  — 

$10,400,000! 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     115 

Is  it  conceivable?    Is  it  possible? 

Tortured  bodies  of  women  yielding  that  gigantic 
income ! 

These  are  the  women  who  live  in  the  levee  resorts, 
the  inmates  of  flats  and  hotels  and  the  slaves  of  the 
cafe  owners. 

Those  women  who  live  within  houses  whose  own- 
ers pay  protection  for  their  inmates,  give  up  half  of 
the  weekly  earnings  to  the  "madam." 

Those  women  who  are  known  as  "hustlers"  in  the 
slang  phrase,  give  fifty  per  cent  of  their  earnings  to 
the  police  for  individual  protection. 

No  matter  how  and  where  that  protection  money 
is  paid,  it  eventually  percolates  through  the  hands  of 
the  police  or  agents  to  the  members  of  the  Vice  Trust. 

The  women  of  the  street  who  frequent  the  hotels 
with  their  victims,  pass  their  protection  money  to  the 
hotel  owners.  They  act  in  furthering  protection,  in 
the  same  capacity  as  do  the  keepers  of  the  houses  of 
ill  fame  for  their  victims. 

The  police  trail  these  girls  to  the  favorite  hotel 
and  then  compel  the  hotel  men  to  collect  from  the 
women. 

POLICE  PRICE  FOR  THE  SCARLET  WOMAN. 

Investigation  again  discloses  a  terrible  condition 
of  things. 

We  are  going  to  show  what  these  unfortunate 
women  pay  to  exist :  —  the  amount  of  money  they 
pay  the  police  for  protection  and  the  money  that  is 
passed  on. 


116    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

The  prices  exacted  from  a  levee  house  by  the 
police  or  other  agents  of  the  Vice  Trust  for  police 
protection,  varies  according  to  thle  hberties  given 
these  slaves. 

From  investigation  of  a  thorough  character  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  the  average  protection  price  paid  per 
woman  in  Chicago  is  twenty  dollars  a  month ! 

Figuring  on  the  basis  of  5,000  women  who  are 
prostitutes  in  the  accepted  sense  of  the  term,  this 
means  a  payment  of  $1,200,000  in  protection  money 
a  year. 

In  support  of  our  monthly  protective  price  of 
twenty  dollars,  we  quote  the  following  from  a  woman, 
for  twenty  years  the  owner  of  a  big  house  of  pros- 
titution in  Chicago  and  now  a  married  and  reformed 
member  of  the  best  society  of  Cedar  Rapids,  la.  This 
woman  in  speaking  of  the  question  of  protection 
money,  said : 

"During  my  experience  of  twenty  years  as  the 
keeper  of  a  Chicago  resort,  900  girls  passed  through 
my  hands.  The  protection  prices  I  paid  depended 
largely  on  the  profits  that  the  girls  made.  I  had  as 
many  as  forty-five  girls  in  my  establishment  at  once. 
The  girls  got  half  of  their  earnings  and  I  got  the 
other  half.  From  my  part  I  paid  my  protection  money. 
I  paid  from  fifteen  to  thirty-five  dollars  for  each  girl 
to  the  police.  The  average  for  all  the  girls  was 
twenty  dollars  a  month  for  each  girl  I  kept.  I  will 
not  give  the  names  of  the  police  or  the  collectors." 

W'hen  prominent  investigators  were  searching  for 
facts  to  use  in  a  crusade  against  the  sale  of  liquor 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     117 

without  a  license,  they  visited  the  Everleigh  Club 
on  Dearborn  street. 

Minnie  Everleigh,  one  of  the  tw^o  women  who 
own  that  notorious  resort,  made  the  following  state- 
ment, showing  the  existence  of  police  protection : 

"I  would  be  perfectly  willing  to  pay  a  liquor 
license  of  $i,ooo  a  year.  I  would  like  to  see  the 
entire  business  legalized.  I  would  pay  the  price 
legally  demanded. 

"As  it  is  today,  someone  permits  us  to  conduct 
our  establishment.     I  am  paying  in  other  ways." 

The  payment  which  that  dive  keeper  made  "in 
other  ways"  was  the  protection  money  and  a  dozen 
allied  forms  of  graft  to  the  Vice  Trust  throug'h  its 
"lieutenants." 

GRAFTS   THAT    FEED    ON    FLESH    AND    BLOOD. 

The  protection  graft  is  the  beginning  of  the  great 
graft  system.  It  is  created  to  be  used  as  a  foundation 
for  a  thousand  and  one  other  sources  of  graft  from 
sin  and  vice. 

It  'has  'been  shown  that  the  woman  either  person- 
ally or  through  the  woman  or  man  to  whom  she  is 
sold  or  has  sold  'herself  offers  the  first  tribute  to  the 
Vice  Trust  and  pays  for  a  lease  on  her  demoralizing 
and  destructive  life. 

Now  that  she  has  paid  her  protective  graft,  sh'e 
is  to  be  fleeced  by  the  great  trust  with  its  political 
leaders,   out   of  the  remaining  part  of  her  earnings. 

The  women  in  the  resorts  are  the  greatest  victims 
of  the  "consequential  graft." 


118     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

Take  for  instance,  the  woman  inmate  of  a  house 
who  is  in  need  of  clothes  and  other  necessities  and 
watch  the  way  the  Vice  Trust  robs  her  over  and 
over  again. 

The  average  earnings  of  a  woman  was  placed  at 
forty  dollars.  Of  that  twenty  dollars  was  turned  over 
to  the  resort  keeper.  That  leaves  an  average  of  twenty 
dollars  weekly  to  a  woman.     That  is  $i,ooo  a  year. 

Of  this  amount  these  women  are  compelled  to 
spend  $500  yearly.  That  leaves  them  but  $500.  Even 
that  succumbs  to  a  mere  nominal  figure  when  graft 
has  finally  stopped  feasting  on  it. 

THE  KIMONA  TRUST. 

There  is  a  subsidiary  trust  of  the  Vice  Trust  which 
robs  the  2,000  inmates  of  resorts  in  the  city. 

That  combine  is  called  the  Kimona  Trust.  It  is 
composed  of  certain  clothing  makers  w'ho  sell  ex- 
clusively to  the  inmates  of  the  houses  of  prostitution. 
It  received  its  name  from  the  fact  that  the  prostitutes 
buy  and  wear  light  house  apparel,  consisting  of 
kimonas,  wrappers,  flimsy  gowns  and  gaudy  lingerie. 

The  operation  of  this  trust,  the  extent  of  its  graft 
and  the  way  that  graft  is  divided,  with  its  portion 
going  to  the  vice  lords  is  interesting  and  not  well 
known. 

Take  for  instance,  the  girl  who  is  in  need  of  a 
kimona.  Here  is  a  truthful  story  from  a  girl  in  an 
Armour  avenue  resort  as  to  the  way  she  was  victim- 
ized by  the  kimona  grafters.  Thousands  of  others 
•could   tell  the  same  storv. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     119 

"I  had  not  been  in  the  resort  very  long,"  said  the 
girl  to  the  investigator,  "when  I  needed  some  clothes. 
I  told  the  'madam'  and  she  said  the  agent  of  a  clothing 
house  would  call  within  a  few  days.  I  wanted  to  go 
out  and  purchase  the  things  where  I  desired,  but  she 
told  me  she  had  to  see  that  her  girls  got  them  from 
a  certain  man. 

"The  man  came  and  I  made  my  selections  from 
a  number  of  articles  of  apparel  which  he  displayed. 
I  had  worked  in  a  department  store  before  I  entered 
upon  this  life  and  I  knew  the  value  of  clothes. 

"1  was  compelled  to  pay  $15  for  a  kimona  which 
I  could  have  purchased  for  $3  at  any  department 
store.  I  paid  $120  for  a  hat  with  plumes  on  that 
was  worth  only  $30.  I  was  forced  to  give  up  $67 
for  a  dress  whose  value  I  knew  could  not  have  been 
more  than  $25. 

"The  man  then  sliowed  me  some  jewelry  which 
he  had  with  him  and  the  keeper  told  me  I  should  get 
some  to  make  myself  look  more  attractive. 

"He  showed  me  some  cheap  rings  and  bracelets 
and  earrings.  I  paid  $20  for  a  bracelet,  some  neck 
beads  and  a  ring  which  were  not  worth  any  more 
than  $4.     They  fell  to  pieces  a  short  time  later." 

These  girls,  according  to  their  own  stories  are 
obliged  to  pay  two  dollars  for  a  pair  of  stockings  that 
are  not  worth  more  than  fifty  cents. 

That  is  the  system  of  the  Kimona  Trust! 

Increased  value  on  articles  of  clothing  sold  tfic 
inmates  is  about  the  same  in  every  instance. 


120    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

Three  hundred  per  cent  excess  profit  is  tlie  taxa- 
tion made  by  the  agents  of  the  kimona  trust ! 

The  purchase  prices  on  all  things  are  so  increased 
as  to  make  that  enormous  profit. 

There  are  2,000  women  buying-  clothes  at  a  yearly 
expenditure,  or  rather  robbery,  of  $500. 

That  means  $1,000,000  spent  by  these  poor,  dying, 
unfortunates  yearly  to  feed  the  avaricious  grafters ! 

That  enormous  sum  is  spent  for  materials  that  are 
worth  only  one  fourth  of  that  value. 

That  means  that  the  Kimona  Trust  brings  an  an- 
nual harvest  of  graft  of  $750,000 ! 

The  figures  are  so  startling  as  to  strike  one  dumb 
with  horror,  yet  they  are  as  true  as  the  annual  state- 
ment of  the  earnings  and  capital  of  a  reliable  bank. 

The  Kimona  Trust  agents  are  satisfied  to  make 
the  normal  profit  on  the  goods  as  if  they  were  sold 
at  their  legitimate  price.  They  raise  the  price  and 
create  the  graft  in  return  for  the  favor  of  having  a 
big  business   with'  no  competition. 

The  $750,000  is  then  split  up.  To  the  police  un- 
doubtedly a  small  share  goes  for  their  general  work 
in  the  district,  the  keepers  get  a  share  for  compelling 
the  girls  to  buy  and  the  big  bulk  goes  to  the  directors 
of  the  Vice  Trust. 

THE  LAUNDRY  TRUST. 

The  Kimona  Trust  has  not  eaten  to  the  last  bill 
in  the  purse  of  the  vice  slave.  She  still  has  money 
left  which  the  Vice  Trust  must  batten  on. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     121 

The  Kimona  Trust  has  a  logical  successor,  the 
Laundry  Trust. 

This  combine  proceeds  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
combine  that  furnishes  clothing  to  the  2,000  prostitutes 
in  the  houses. 

It  proceeds  by  boosting  the  prices  and  robbing  its 
victims. 

In  the  ordinary  laundry  service,  the  laundry  man 
with  a  cleaning  establishment  is  satisfied  with  sixty 
per  cent  of  the  income  of  a  man  who  has  a  private 
route  and  brings  his  collections  in  clothing  to  the 
place.  He  is  allowed  forty  per  cent  for  himself  and 
for  his  wagon. 

In  the  levee  districts  the  privilege  of  the  laundry 
business  is  hard  sought  after,  but  it  is  limited  to  a 
few  men.  These  men  pay  for  the  privilege.  They 
add  100  per  cent  to  their  prices  for  work  done,  so 
that  the  Vice  Trust  which  grants  the  favor  may  reap 
its  profits. 

Speaking  conservatively,  every  girl  is  obliged  to 
have  a  laundry  bill  of  two  dollars  a  week. 

Two  thousand  girls  with  an  average  laundry  bill 
of  $2.00  means  $4,000  a  week  or  $208,000  a  year ! 

The  just  laundry  bill  for  those  poor,  fleeced  women 
of  sin  should  be  but  $104,000. 

But  the  Vice  Trust  must  have  its  toll.  That  graft 
of  $104,000  is  carried  to  the  under  lords  and  again 
the  capital  of  the  deadly  combine  is  swelled  while  its 
victims  starve ! 


122     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

THE   CRIMINAL    DOCTOR. 

Even  science  has  prostituted  itself  to  aid  the 
Vice  Trust  collect  its  tithes  from  the  lost  women. 

In  the  South  side  "redlight"  district  about  ten 
physicians  who  are  graduated  from  good  schools  have 
sold  themselves  to  the  lords  of  vice,  crime  and  sin. 

These  men  are  employed  to  examine  the  women 
inmates  of  the  houses  to  see  if  they  are  suffering  from 
diseases  of  a  venereal  nature  that  might  sow  the  seed 
of  d'eath  in  thousands  of  men. 

This  practice  is  also  carried  on  in  the  other  "red- 
light"  districts. 

It  is  the  biggest  farce  in  the  whole  system.  It  is 
a  criminal  perversion  of  science. 

It  has  to  the  resort  keeper  an  advertising  value. 
The  word  is  sent  forth  that  his  girls  are  "healthy," 
or  the  man  who  accompanies  her  to  her  room,  sees 
stuck  in  a  prominent  place  a  certificate  signed  by  a 
physician  declaring  he  has  examined  her  and  found 
her   free   from  venereal   afflictions. 

It  is  a  terrible  and  criminal  deception. 

Those  physicians  are  supposed  to  give  each  girl 
a  personal,  clinical  examination  each  week. 

That  is  rarely  done. 

For  this  "examination"  these  girls  are  taxed  fifty 
cents  a  week  and  given  signed  certificates.  Often 
they  do  not  see  the  pihysician  for  months  at  a  time, 
yet  they  receive  their  certificates. 

The  physicians  making  a  living  at  this  terrible 
exercise  of  their  sacred  profession  are  slaves  of  the 
trust.   They  sold  their  manhood  to  receive  the  position. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     123 

To  the  trust  they  give  back  a  large  part  of  the  money 
taken  from  these  unfortunate  victims. 

This  graft,  is  said  by  those  acquainted  with  the 
subject,  to  reach  $15,000  a  year! 

THE  PROSTITUTE  AND  THE  BEER  GRAFT. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  that  the  graft  yielded 
by  prostitution  direct  is  enormous.  It  has  been  shown 
how  the  disgraced  and  fallen  women  not  only  give 
up  a  share  of  the  earning  from  their  dying  bodies, 
but  also  are  compelled  to  assist  in  the  collection  of 
subsidiary  graft. 

But  the  Vice  Trust  has  not  finished  Vv^ith  the  pick- 
ing of  the  bones  and  the  sucking  out  of  the  marrow. 
There  is  still  more  to  be  taken  for  the  price  of  sin 
and  shame  and  misery. 

The  women  who  have  the  seeds  of  death  in  their 
bodies  must  be  pushed  and  shoved  swiftly  to  their 
dishonored  graves.  As  they  go  they  must  yield  more 
gold  to  the  money  lust  of  the  vice  lords.  Gold  must 
be  their  price  even  on  the  brink  of  the  grave. 

The  Beer  Trust  must  fatten  on  the  last  pieces  of 
flesh  and  the  last  drops  of  blood ! 

There  was  the  Kimona  Trust ;  then  the  Laundry 
Trust,  and  now  the  Beer  Trust. 

In  order  to  further  its  business  and  increase  its 
income,  these  unfortunates  must  poison  their  already 
decaying  systems  with  quantities  of  beer  that  would 
revolt  even  the  average  drunkard.  They  must  in- 
oculate themselves  with  the  virus  of  slow  death ! 

They   must   drink,   drink,   always   drink ! 


124    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

As  a  lure  and  a  bait  to  force  these  already  under- 
paid wretches  to  fill  themselves  with  the  venom  of 
the  beer  vats  they  are  given  a  meaningless  profit  for 
every  glass  of  poison  they  force  a  customer  to  buy. 

They  are  obliged  to  drink  with  the  customer  in  a 
spirit  of  good  fellowship.  Even  after  they  are  sick 
and  drunk  they  pour  the  cheap,  over-fermented  liquor 
into  their  stomachs  —  for  the  sake  of  sociability  and 
to  appease  the  Vice  Trust  through  its  brewery  graft. 

The  girls  thus  become  the  Beer  Trust's  agents. 
The  woman  that  is  not  a  good  "beer  agent"  in  a 
house  of  ill  fame,  is  either  punished  by  being  deprived 
of  some  privilege  or  her  body  bruised  and  discolored 
by  a  brute  employed  just  for  such  purposes. 

But  we  have  demonstrated  that  subsidiary  graft 
has  reduced  the  ill-gotten  gains  of  the  women  until 
there  is  scarcely  anything  left  for  them. 

"SELL    DRINKS    OR    STARVE." 

Do  you  wonder  that  they  sit  hour  after  hour  at 
a  table  guzzling  beer  with  their  drunken  customers  ? 

It  is  the  old  story  of — "Do  this  or  starve." 

In  the  "redlight"  districts  of  Chicago  certain  brew- 
eries 'have  the  monopolized  concession  from  the  vice 
lords  to  sell  their  commodity.  No  one  else  dare  enter 
into  the  precincts  to  peddle  his  goods. 

The  Vice  Trust  demands  a  terrible  stipend.  There- 
fore the  beer  must  be  sold  at  an  outrageous  price. 
The  over  lords  must  get  their  share,  the  girls  in  the 
houses  must  be  paid  their  horrible  commission  and 
the  keepers  must  make  their  profits. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     125 

The  sale  of  this  beer  in  the  disorderly  houses  is  a 
direct  violation  of  the  law  governing  the  sale  of 
liquors.  All  this  beer  and  other  intoxicants  are  sold 
without  a  city  license. 

There  are  one  thousand  places  in  the  city  selling 
liquor  without  a  license.  Nearly  all  these  are  houses 
of  prostitution.  This  figure  is  arrived  at  by  a  com- 
parison of  federal  tax  records  on  the  sale  of  liquors 
and  the  records  in  the  city  license  department  of  the 
city  clerk.  The  houses  of  ill  fame  dare  not  ignore 
the  laws  of  the  United  States.  So,  they  purchase  a 
federal  liquor  license  at  the  nominal  sum  of  twenty- 
five  dollars  a  year. 

BEER    GRAFT  — $2,915,760. 

The  yearly  graft  in  beer  in  the  holes  of  vice  in 
the  city  is  unbelievable.  We  shall  quote  an  authori- 
tative source. 

According  to  the  report  made  by  the  recent  Vice 
Commission  to  the  Mayor  of  Chicago  the  annual  graft 
from  the  sale  of  intoxicants  in  the  restricted  districts 
of  the  city,  is  — 

$2,915,760! 

That  means  that  many  dollars  in  graft  over  the 
price  paid  the  brewery  for  its  product. 

That  income  must  be  divided  among  three  factors : 
the  prostitutes,  the  keepers  of  the  houses  and  the 
members  of  the  Vice  Trust. 

In  the  calculations  of  the  Vice  Commission,  the 
prostitutes  receive  forty  per  cent,  which  amounts  to 
$1,166,304. 


126     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

From  sources  reliable  and  from  interviews  with 
keepers  of  diorderly  houses,  we  have  learned  that  the 
Vice  Trust  exacts  fifty  dollars  a  month  from  each 
disorderly  house  for  the  privilege  of  selling  beers, 
whiskeys  and  other  death-dealing  drinks. 

From  the  houses  of  prostitution  in  the  levee  dis- 
tricts, from  the  "houses  of  call,"  the  "flats"  and  other 
disorderly  places,  numbering  i,ooo,  figuring  on  the 
basis  of  fifty  dollars  a  month,  the  beer  graft  to  the 
over  lords  is  $600,000  a  year. 

That  is  the  price  that  the  minions  of  vice  pay  for 
the  privilege  of  violating  the  municipal  laws,  of  taxing 
vice  to  its  last  strength,  of  murdering  the  women 
who  must  promote  the  vicious  industry ! 

THE  INVESTED  VICE  CAPITAL. 

The  over  lords,  cunning  and  commercial  to  a  degree, 
have  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  grow  dollars  from 
cents. 

Realizing  that  the  breweries  made  golden  harvests 
from  their  privileges  of  monopoly,  the  vice  kings 
sought  to  extend  their  power  to  these  corporations. 

They  did  it  by  practically  buying  the  breweries ! 

Three  of  the  politicians  who  are  members  of  the 
Directorate  of  Ten  —  the  graft  spirits  of  Chicago's 
underworld  —  have  profit-yielding  interests  in  brew- 
eries that  serve  levee  trade. 

In  this  way  the  over  lords  have  another  source  of 
swollen  income. 

Nothing  escapes   from   their  talons. 

In  the  levee  resorts  large  quantities  of  cigarettes 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY    127 

are  sold  daily.  Ag^ain  the  vice  masters  seek  out  and 
gain  the  gold.  One  member  of  the  all  powerful 
Directorate  of  Ten  has  a  controlling  interest  in  the 
agency  of  a  certain  brand  of  cigarette.  Every  effort 
is  made  in  the  vice  districts  to  sell  this  cigarette 
because  the  vice  lord  has  commanded  that  it  be  dis- 
posed of. 

THE    PROSTITUTE    AND    THE    "CADET." 

In  the  ante  bellum  days  when  slavery  flourished 
in  the  South,  the  blacks  were  directly  ruled  over  by 
foremen  who  goaded  them  on  at  their  tasks  of  making 
dollars  for  the  plantation  lord  until  they  found  wel- 
come rest  in  death. 

The  modern  slave  is  the  prostitute.  She,  too,  must 
have  a  boss  to  urge  on  her  tired  body  to  make  more 
dollars  for  her  masters,  to  keep  up  the  constant  stream 
of  graft  to  the  Vice  directorate,  to  boost  the  earnings 
of  such  industries  as  in  turn  pay  a  tribute  to  the  great 
trust. 

The  boss  of  the  miserable  outcast  woman  is  the 
"cadet."  That  low  species  of  perverted  human, 
crunching  on  the  few  morsels  of  food  thrown  at  his 
feet  from  the  well-heaped  table  of  vice,  is  also  known 
as  "mack."  History  has  given  him  the  name  of 
"pimp." 

The  pickpocket,  the  burglar,  the  safe  cracker,  even 
the  murderer,  command  more  respect  —  we  say  respect 
for  lack  of  a  better  term  —  than  do  these  human, 
creeping,  craven  parasites. 


128    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

They  are  the  real  slave-men;  the  lowest  form  of 
the  Vice  Trust's  vassals. 

Among  these  men  are  also  the  men  who  first 
destroyed  the  sacred  chastity  of  the  women  over  whom 
they  now  rule.  Nothing  is  sacred  to  them;  nothing 
good;  nothing  inviolable. 

They  have  become  an  essential  element  to  the 
nefarious  scheme  of  the  Vice  Trust.  Whip  in  hand 
they  are  the  appointed  lashers  of  the  thousands  of 
lost  women,  beating  them  to  urge  them  to  work 
harder,  faster,  and  thus  yield  a  return  for  their  pur- 
chase price  until  the  cold  earth  falls  with  hollow  sound 
upon  the  cheap  casket  purchased  to  hide  away  their 
shame  and  sin  in  the  ground. 

The  subsidiary  trusts  of  the  great  Vice  Trust  have 
taken  their  toll.  But  the  unfortunate  women,  through 
their  commissions,  particularly  on  liquors,  have  still 
some  of  the  terrible  wage  drained  from  their  bodies. 

The  trust  must  have  the  greater  part  of  that.  It 
is  the  duty  of  the  "cadets"  to  get  it.     They  do. 

They  collect  from  the  girls,  take  their  share  and 
turn  over  a  large  percentage  to  the  Directorate  of  Ten. 

The  trust  has  a  strange  reason  for  this.  The  trust 
considers  the  "cadet"  primarily  as  a  parasite.  That 
parasite  must  pay  a  price  for  existence.  To  get  it,  he 
must  compel  the  woman  he  controls  to  make  more 
money. 

In  urging  her  to  make  more  money  he  is  boosting 
the  graft  in  every  possible  way. 

There  is  a  psychological  connection  between  the 
"cadet"  and  his  prostituted  slave-woman. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     129 

Inh'erent  in  the  nature  of  every  woman  is  the 
primitive  instinct  of  the  mastership  of  man  and 
obediance  to  it.  In  the  good  woman  that  ohediance 
to  that  subconscious  instinct  finds  its  expression  in 
love  and  in  strange  submission  to  his  theories  and 
practices  of  hfe  where  there  exists  no  moral  conflict. 

To  be  loved,  to  be  cared  for,  to  be  desired,  are 
the  impulses  developing  out  of  the  conception  of 
man's  mastery. 

In  the  lost  woman,  the  instincts  are  the  same ;  so, 
too,  the  impulses. 

When  a  woman  has  fallen  she  never  gives  up  her 
dream  of  a  "one  man"  who  might  love  her,  treasure 
her  and  protect  her,  until  the  eternal  night  blots  out 
the  colors  of  the  vision. 

Failing  to  find  a  return  love,  the  thousands  of 
unfortunate  women  fall  victims  to  their  own  loves 
for  men.  Rather  than  lose  even  the  hollow,  empty 
sham  of  love,  rather  than  to  miss  the  presence  of  a 
brute,  they  submit  to  indignities,  brutality  and  tortures 
that  are  indescribable. 

It  is  the  under  current  carrying  the  idea  of  Man 
the  Master.    The  woman  is  willing  to  be  the  slave. 

Playing  on  this  perverted  instinct  of  the  woman, 
the  Vice  Trust  makes  capital  of  it.  The  '^cadets"  are 
brought  in  on  the  general  plan  of  graft. 

The  "redlight"  districts  of  the  city  are  infested 
with  these  men,   fattening  on  their  lost  women. 

Judging  from  the  number  of  well  dressed  men  of 
no  'apparent  occupation  who  hang  about  the  saloons, 
resorts,  poolrooms,  cigar  stores  and  other  places  near 


130     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

the  levees,  there  are  more  than  i,ooo  of  these  worms 
of  the  earth  at  large,  feeding  on  the  city's  great  ulcer, 
flaunting  their  crimes  in  the  faces  of  our  young  men 
and  young  women  of  clean  morals,  and  murdering 
their  women  hirelings ! 

They  have  no  fear  of  the  police  because  they  know 
that  the  police  dare  not  molest  them  just  as  long  as 
they  "hand  over"  their  graft  to  the  "men  higher  up." 

BRUTALITY    OF    THE    "CADETS." 

These  men  exercise  the  most  brutal  mastership 
over  the  prostitute.  Instances  have  been  s'hown  where 
women  were  whippedi  within  a  few  inches  of  death 
'by  the  inhuman  dogs. 

One  night  in  the  South  side  levee,  a  "cadet"  caught 
one  of  his  women  on  the  street  in  front  of  a  resort, 
cursed  her  for  her  small  earnings  and  proceeded  to 
beat  her  into  insensibility.  Bleeding  from  his  in- 
human blows,  she  reeled  and  fell  to  the  sidewalk. 

Standing  in  the  glare  of  the  arc  light,  the  man's 
face  and  hands  were  smeared  with  blood.  Two  police- 
men approached  and  stopped.  The  "cadet"  held  up  his 
blaod-stained  hands  and  laughed.  The  policemen 
pushed  him  ahead,  and  one  of  them  said: 

"Fred,  you  better  move  on.  Go  and  wash  your 
face  and  hands." 

A  woman  came  from  the  resort,  kicked  the  pros- 
trate form  of  the  unconscious  girl  with  her  foot, 
then  grasping  her  by  the  hands,  dragged  her  into  the 
hell  chamber  from  which  she  had  emerged  to  breathe 
a  little  of  God's  own  air. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     131 

That  is  not  the  story  of  a  heated  imag-ination. 
It  was  actually  witnessed.  Incidents  of  similar  char- 
acter which  beggar  description,  occur  every  night, 
when  these  outcasts  are  confronted  by  drunken,  blood- 
exacting  degenerates. 

Some  of  these  men  are  the  slave  masters  of  several 
women. 

In  a  recent  White  Slave  case  in  the  federal  court, 
one  of  these  wretches  confessed  that  he  was  the 
"cadet"  of  four  prostitutes.  He  drove  them  on  in 
their  vicious  labors,  forced  them  to  work  day  and 
night  to  bring  him  money  from  which  he  made  his 
own  living  and  paid  protection  to  the  police  and 
tribute  to  the  Vice  Trust. 

This  man  swore  that  he  made  from  fifty  to  sixty 
dollars  a  week  from  each  girl. 

Many  of  these  "cadets"  do  not  live  in  the  "redlight" 
districts.  They  scatter  and  come  back  when  it  is  time 
to  gather  in  the  gold. 

"CADETS"    AND    POLICE    GRAFT. 

The  business  of  exacting  graft  from  these  men  is 
a  difficult  police  problem  because  of  their  nomadic 
hahits.     Still  it  is  accomplished. 

Rendezvous  of  these  men  are  frequently  raided  by 
the  police  and  these  "cadets"  to  save  themselves  give 
up  what  money  they  may  have  with  them. 

M'any  of  them,  however,  cannot  keep  away  from 
the  scenes  of  their  crimes  and  cravenly  and  regularly 
pay  their  price. 

The  "cadet"  system  is  highly  valued  by  the  Direct- 


132    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

orate  of  Ten  because  it  is  the  human  prod  to  vice,  the 
medium  of  increasing  infamous  profits  from  day  to 
day. 

As  an  instance  of  this,  here  is  a  story  from  police 
circles  which  is  confirmed  by  other  corroboration. 

Recently,  a  captain  of  police  was  transferred  to 
the  Twenty-second  street  police  station.  He  was  an 
unsophisticated  police  official,  then.  He  was  not  well 
acquainted  with  the  workings  of  the  Vice  Trust  and 
he  was  determined  to  rid  the  districts  of  some  of  the 
evils  w"hich  were  more  flagrant  than  others. 

He  determined  to  destroy  the  "cadet"  system  and 
to  cast  every  "cadet"  into  jail  on  charges  of  vagrancy. 
He  set  about  to  do  it  and  forty-eig'ht  hours  later  the 
district  was  seething  with  indignation,  fear  and  anger. 

A  conference  of  the  big  resort  keepers  was  held 
and  the  police  captain  invited  to  attend.  He  went 
prepared  to  deliver  a  staggering  ultimatum  that  would 
wipe  out  the  evil  forever. 

When  he  emerged  he  was  a  beaten,  broken  man, 
broken  on  the  great,  ever  turning  wheel  of  vice. 

Those  keepers  told  him  in  that  conference  that  if 
he  drove  the  "cadets"  out.  they  might  as  well  shut  down 
their  houses.  He  was  willing  that  they  should.  But 
there  was  the  rub.  He  was  quietly  shown  that  the 
graft  lords  wanted  more  money  and  would  not  stand 
for  a  decrease  of  profits. 

They  declared  that  women  without  "cadets"  to  urge 
them  on,  did  not  make  'half  the  money  those  did  who 
were  driven  to  death  by  these  inhuman  creatures  in 
their  exploitation  of  vice. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     133 

To  back  np  their  statements  they  showed  him  the 
records  of  their  houses. 

The  great  powers,  he  reaUzed,  were  behind  com- 
mercialized vice.  To  harm  one  member  of  that  Direct- 
orate of  Ten  b_v  shearing  him  of  his  profits  meant 
ruin  to  himself.     He  gave  up  the  battle. 

Later  on,  in  another  police  territory,  this  same 
official  hemmed  in  and  enmeshed  by  the  exacting 
system  which  he  had  allowed  to  make  him  a  slave, 
fell  a  victim  to  the  Vice  Trust  and  was  sacrificed  with 
much  pomp  of  public  investigation  on  the  altars  of 
the  temple  of  vice  and  graft  to  appease  the  unseen 
god  of  public  wrath  and  indignation. 

Another  example  of  how  the  graft  system  reaches 
out  and  destroys  the  upright,  is  the  following :  — 

Another  captain  of  police  was  sent  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  police  district  including  the  South  side 
levee.  A  clean-minded  diief  of  police  ordered  him 
to  clean  up  the  district.  He  ordered  him  to  place 
men  in  the  resorts  where  there  were  flagrant  violations 
of  the  rules  regulating  the  district. 

The  police  official  did  so.  The  resort  keepers  tried 
to  reason  with  him,  argue  with  him  and  plead  with 
him,  but  he  refused  to  listen.  "I  shall  carry  out  my 
orders,"  he  said  firmly.  Then  they  predicted  his  trans- 
fer from  the  police  station.  They  predicted  that  with- 
in thirty  days  he  would  be  in  command  at  another 
station.  They  missed  their  calculations  by  but  one 
day.  He  was  transferred  to  a  district  where  his 
honesty  could  do  no  harm.  Beyond  and  above  the 
chief  of  police  ruled  a  power  —  the  political  power 


134    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

of  the  Directorate  of  Ten.  that  made  the  final  ruling. 
A  chief  of  police  in  a  strange  manner  has  admitted 
the  power  of  the  vice  combine  which  he  was  sworn 
to  annihilate.  As  a  sergeant  of  police  he  was  power- 
less to  stem  the  tide  of  sin  and  vice.  When  he 
received  the  highest  executive  office  in  the  depart- 
ment, the  Vice  Trust  compelled  him  to  move  from 
the  home  in  which  he  had  lived  on  the  South  side  for 
twenty-five  years.  The  music  from  the  dives  floated 
into  the  precincts  of  his  home  and  disturbed  his  rest; 
the  unfortunate  women  carried  on  their  immoral  pro- 
fession within  a  stone's  throw  of  where  his  innocent 
daughter  slept ;  drunken  men  reeled  past  his  door 
going  to  and  from  the  vice  haunts.  He  was  sur- 
rounded by  scarlet  women  and  vicious  men.  For  the 
salvation  of  his  family  he  was  obliged  to  seek  other 
quarters. 

AND  TO  THE  WOMAN?  — DEATH! 

Oh  you  that  are  the  children  of  our  flesh  and  blood, 
you  over  whom  anxious  mothers  have  watched 
throug'h  the  long,  weary  hours  of  the  night  when  the 
shadow  of  sickness  was  upon  you,  you  whose  lips  are 
still  undefiled  by  the  kiss  of  unclean  lips,  you  who  still 
kneel  at  night  and  in  the  solitude  of  your  chambers, 
call  upon  the  Master  to  hold  your  hearts  in  the  mighty 
hollow  of  His  hand,  bend  your  heads  in  meditation 
on  the  truth  that  is  hideous,  but  must  be  known. 

You  mothers  and  fathers,  sacrificing  every  hour 
of  your  lives  for  your  daughters,  praying  for  their 
purity,  guarding  their  chastity,  leading  them  in  the 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     135 

paths  of  righteousness,  turn  not  from  the  truth  that 
you  must  know,  but  listen  and  take  warning". 

IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  MODERNITY  IGNO- 
RANCE IS  NO  LONGER  INNOCENCE.  IGNO- 
RANCE IS  CRIME:  IGNORANCE  IS  SIN:  THE 
SIN  OF  OMISSION  AND  NEGLECT. 

In  no  age,  has  a  people  faced  a  social  problem  as 
vital  and  crucial  as  the  one  facing  tlie  American  people 
today.  Our  rapid  progress  in  the  paths  of  commerce 
has  robbed  us  of  a  clear  moral  conscience ;  it  has  made 
the  almighty  dollar  the  ideal,  to  the  detriment  of  the 
soul  and  heart ;  it  has  built  taller  houses  of  industry- 
while  the  church  steeples  have  grown  shorter. 

It  has  crept  unconsciously  upon  us  until  it  has 
eaten  into  our  vitals  —  the  commercial  and  industrial 
frenzy. 

It  has  recognized  in  the  perversion  of  woman  a 
source  of  income  and  it  has  commercialized  the  vicious 
instincts,  and  the  depraved  desires  of  thousands  of 
them. 

The  baby  girl  in  the  cradle  is  being  watched  and 
waited  for  by  the  Vice  Trust :  —  ready  to  capture  her 
and  throw  her  tortured  body  into  the  mart  of  sin  for 
filthy  dollars. 

The  school  girl  is  trailed  and  tempted.  She  falls 
often  unconsciously  and  awakens  when  it  is  too  late. 
The  girl  who  is  earning  her  own  living  is  preyed  upon 
and  bartered  away ;  and  even  the  wife  and  mother  is 
frequently  caught  in  the  ever-tightening  mesh  of  the 
masters  Satan  has  appointed  on  earth. 

Statistics  show  that  two  thirds  of  the  women  who 


136     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

'are  found  in  the  infamous  resorts  of  the  city  drift 
there  in  a  thousand  and  one  ways. 

The  White  blaves  are  in  the  minority. 

Economic  and  social  conditions,  starvation  wages, 
environment,  unrestrained  sexual  desires,  lack  of  re- 
ligious restraint,  improper  association  with  the  male 
sex  in  immature  ages,  desires  for  pleasures,  luxuries 
and  clothing,  betrayal  by  men,  are  among  the  prin- 
cipal reasons  why  this  vast  percentage  of  the  prosti- 
tutes fills  the  houses  of  iniquity. 

Tons  of  literature  have  been  written,  warning  the 
girls  of  the  country  against  the  perfidious  White 
Slaver. 

"LEAVE   ALL    HOPE    BEHIND." 

These  warnings  have  also  been  directed  to  the 
parents  of  our  girls. 

The  girls  and  women  that  need  warning  today 
are  those  who  are  drifting  to  the  Lake  of  Infamy, 
drifting,  some  unconsciously  and  others  with  knowl- 
edge, in  a  vague  way  of  what  is  before  them. 

To  this  class  we  cry  out  until  we  are  exhausted 
and  our  throats  are  bleeding  with  the  effort : 

"Leave  all  hope  behind,  you   who  enter  here." 

At  each  'avenue  leading  into  the  hellish  centers  of 
the  city  should  stand  a  lost  woman,  peering  into  the 
eyes  and  'hearts  of  each  girl  who  is  creeping  silently 
and  shamefully  to  the  vice  dens.  In  her  hollow,  rasp- 
ing voice,  the  lost  woman  should  be  made  to  cry  out : 

"TURN  BACK  ERE  IT  IS  TOO  LATE!  THIS 
IS  THE  CITY  OF  THE  DAMNED!     THIS   IS 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     137 

THE  SLAUGHTER-BOUSE  OF  HELL!  THIS 
IS  THE  CHARNAL-HOUSE  OF  DEATH !  THIS 
IS  THE  SPOT  WHERE  THE  GRAVES  ARE 
ALWAYS  OPEN  AND  YAWNING!  LIFE  HAS 
NO  HOPE  HERE!" 

If  each  girl  could  be  told  the  paralyzing  truth  of 
the  life  of  the  prostitute  as  we  have  told  it  in  this 
book,  would  she  plunge  headlong  into  the  consuming 
fire?  Would  she  leap  into  the  ever-present  abyss? 
Would  she  take  the  first  drink?  Would  she  give 
her  lips  to  the  poison  of  the  inhuman  wretch  who 
plots  her  death?  Would  she  give  her  pure,  white 
body  to  the  abominations  of  the  Vice  Trust? 

No,  no,  no :  not  unless  she  were  born  of  hell  and 
deprived  of  reason   and  judgment. 

It  has  beenj  our  object  to  show  that  not  one  dream 
of  the  girl  who  enters  a  bouse  of  prostitution  is  ever 
realized. 

She  has  hoped  for  fine  clothes,  jewelry,  food  and 
money. 

She  has  found  nothing  but  shame,  suffering,  re- 
morse and  sorrow. 

THE   LURE  OF  THE  "LIFE." 

'T  will  become  a  slave,  that  is  true,"  said  the  girl 
who  is  dying  in  a  resort  today,  as  she  entered  the 
abominable  life,  three  years  ago,  "but  I  shall  make 
hundreds  of  dollars  and  then  leave  it  and  no  one  shall 
know." 

That  is  the  lure  that  has  caught  up  thousands  of 


138     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

women  and  hurled  them  into  dishonored  and  polktted 
graves. 

The  Vice  Trust  is  the  robber  combine. 

No  woman  who  has  once  fallen  into  its  inhuman 
traps  can  escape  until  she  has  paid  the  last  farthing, 
as  we  have  shown. 

The  Vice  Trust  allows  the  women  of  its  kingdom 
to  make  gold   fast,  that  it  may  rob  them  faster. 

We  have  shown  how  each  agent  of  the  Vice  Trust, 
each  subsidiary  combine,  each  industry  dealing  with 
the  unfortunate  women,  suck  out  the  last  drop  of 
blood. 

In  the  last  analysis,  after  we  have  studied'  how  the 
earnings  of  the  prostitute  are  snatched  away  from  her. 
you  ask  this  startling  question : 

"And  to  the   woman,  what?" 

And  with  God  as  our  judge  and  honest,  clean, 
observant  men  as  our  witnesses,  we  answer : 

"DEATH !" 

Shudder,  all  you  who  today  are  tempted  to  give 
up  the  struggle  against  terrible  odds.  Tremble  with 
fear,  all  you  who  are  near  the  gates  of  the  City  of  Sin  ! 
Turn  back  all  you  who  are  picking  the  insidious  blos- 
soms in  the  pathways  that  lead  to  but  one  end. 

DEATH  :  —  not  pleasure,  not  joy,  not  companion- 
ship ;  not  clothes,  not  the  niceties  of  life,  not  money ! 

The  Vice  Trust  paid  a  high  price  in  one  way  or 
another  for  each  woman-soul.  Death  can  claim  the 
victim  only  after  it  is  torn  to  pieces  by  the  ravenous 
wolves. 

There  is  no  compensation  in  the  lives  of  prostitutes 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     139 

for  all  they  have  thrown  away ;  not  even  a  sham  of 
compensation. 

The  prostitutes  of  Chicago  are  not  only  the  com- 
mercial slaves  of  the  vice  lords ;  they  are  the  victims 
of  the  most  ravaging  and  most  destructive  diseases 
that  science  knows.  Cold  figures  prove  this.  Nearly 
every  woman  in  the  levee  districts  of  Chicago  suffers 
from  dread  diseases.  They  are  the  victims  of  every 
possible   chronic   disease   and  organic   trouble. 

They  are  today  the  greatest  agents  in  the  city  for 
the  dissemination  of  sexual  diseases  that  ruin  homes, 
lead  men  to  suicide  and  fill  the  wards  of  our  city 
hospitals  with  dying  children. 

They  are  the  mistresses  of  the  men  of  the  crime- 
world,  who  in  the  last  stage  of  degradation,  drive 
them  to  careers  which  are  checkered  with  the  murders 
of  their  victims. 

And  now  another  hideous  truth  to  save  our  daugh- 
ters from  the  blasting  curse. 

THE  PACE  THAT  KILLS. 

Death'  claims  these  women  in  from  one  to  seven 
years !  That  startling  statement  is  based  on  actual 
figures  dealing  with  the  demand  and  supply  of  women 
for  the  resorts  of  Chicago. 

Death  is  really  merciful  to  those  whom  he  takes 
at  the  beginning  of  their  blig'hted  lives,  for  they  escape 
in  the  darkness  and  sleep  of  the  tomb  the  nights  of 
nightmare  agony,  of  remorse,  of  shame,  of  physical 
suffering,  of  empty  and  broken  hearts,  of  ghosts  of 
the  pure,  sweet  past,  of  home  with  the  sweet-faced 


140     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

gentle  mother,  the  loving  father  and  the  brothers  and 
sisters. 

Think  of  it!  These  commercialized  creatures  of 
hell  grind  out  of  'body,  blood,  heart  and  soul,  millions 
of  dollars  for  their  masters !  And  for  themselves  — 
the  GRAVE! 

We  have  been  logical  in  our  statements.  We  have 
not  delivered  simply  a  pulpit  warning.  We  have 
shown,  in  undeniable  figures,  that  the  motto  of  the 
Vice  Trust  is : 

"Millions  for  ourselves,  but  not  one  cent  for  the 
women  slaves !" 

If,  as  is  imagined  by  thousands  of  good  men  and 
women,  these  unfortunates  derived  a  profit  from  their 
immoral  business,  then  there  might  exist  an  excuse 
for  the  thousands  who  enter  the  life  each  year.  But 
there  is  no  profit,  no  matter  from  what  standpoint 
you  might  view  the  situation. 

The  story  of  gain  is  but  the  lure.  The  Vice  Trust 
tells  lies  that  are  acceptable  because  of  the  strange 
tendencies  in  the  temperament  of  women. 

Dean  Walter  T.  Sumner,  one  of  Chicago's  most 
prominent  ministers  and  the  chairman  of  the  recent 
Vice  Commission,  declared  that  each  year  the  men 
who  visit  the  many  haunts  of  vice  in  Chicago  spend 
$60,000,000!  He  also  declared  that  of  this  amount, 
over  $16,000,000  goes  to  the  vice  lords! 

"TOO    LATE   TO    TURN    BACK"— CRIES   WOMAN. 

Before  closing  we  wish  to  give  a  concrete  example 
of   the  tenacious   power   of  the   life  of   shame   once 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     141 

it  has  fastened  its  fangs  in  the  heart  and  body  of  its 
victim.  We  tell  the  story  so  that  every  girl  in  this 
country  may  know  that  once  enslaved  there  is  scarcely 
any  redemption. 

In  one  of  the  most  notorious  resorts  in  the  South 
side  levee  district,  lost  to  all  self-respect  and  shame, 
is  a  certain  prostitute  who  drags  her  wornout  body 
about,  selling  it  to  vice  victims  nig'ht  after  night. 

That  woman  is  the  daughter  of  an  alderman  of 
the  city  of  Chicago ! 

Four  years  'ago  she  was  the  idol  of  a  happy  home, 
the  pet  of  a  loving  father  and  the  darling  of  a  happy 
mother.     Today  she  is  a  drunken,  depraved  creature. 

Her  father  has  done  ever}i;hing  in  his  power  to 
rescue  her.  With  his  own  political  power  he  has 
obtained  permission  from  the  vice  masters  to  take 
his  daughter  from  her  infamous  prison. 

That  woman  has  looked  at  her  father  and  cried  out : 

"It  is  too  late!  Society  would  spurn  me  and  I 
would  have  to  flee  away.  Besides  my  body  is  wrecked 
and  could  not  live  without  the  intoxicants  and  drugs 
I  can  feed  it  here." 

The  father  offered  her  $10,000  a  year  as  an  allow- 
ance if' the  girl  would  leave  her  evil  ways.  Again  she 
refused  because  she  knew  in  the  depths  of  her  heart 
that  the  shackles  welded  long  ago  could  never  be 
broken,  and  that  the  poison  eating  through  her  blood 
could  never  be  purged  out. 

If  this  girl  with  every  possible  influence  brought 
to  bear  to  save  her  was  beyond  salvation,  what  of 


142    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

the  thousands  who,  even  if  they  would,  cannot  move 
hand  or  foot  to  escape  the  death  waiting  for  them 
but  a  few  years  away? 

That  is  the  story  of  the  prostitute.  It  is  not  a 
story  of  the  woman  considered  as  an  entity,  deprived 
of  her  relative  existence ;  it  is  the  story  of  the  slave 
as  a  commercialized  being  existing  solely  for  the  en- 
richment of  the  Directorate  of  Ten  of  the  Vice  Trust 
and  not  because  she  is  needed  to  serve  the  passions 
of  men. 

THOUSANDS  ENTER  THE  "LIFE"  YEARLY. 

And  yet  in  the  face  of  this  staggering  truth, 
thousands  of  women  yearly,  enter  upon  the  life  of 
death.  They  go  to  fill  the  polluted  beds  and  chambers 
of  horrors  from  which  the  gaunt,  skeleton  form  of 
Death  has  just  crept  noiseless,  bearing  away  the  vic- 
tims whose  terms  of  earthly  service  in  the  interests 
of  hell  were  at  an  end. 

God  of  Heaven,  Father  of  the  Just,  Thou  who 
watcheth  over  the  universe  of  living  things,  teach 
our  daug'hters  to  know  the  truth  down  to  the  last, 
burning,  revolting  fact.  Save  them  for  the  mother- 
hood of  a  perfect  race.  Protect  them  against  the 
demons  who  seek  them  out  in  the  sanctity  of  the  home. 
Teach  them  restraint.  Give  unto  the  men  and  women 
of  Chicago,  the  strength  and  power  to  rise  up  and 
destroy  the  Vice  Trust  and  its  members,  so  that  the 
sun  may  shine  on  a  spotless  city,  and  love,  happiness, 
purity,  and  the  brotherhood  and  sisterhood  of  man 
may  reign  supreme ! 


How  long.  Oh  God,  how  long? 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Side  Grafts  of  The  Social  Evil. 

Rent  Graft  —  Saloon  Graft  —  Dance  Halls  and  Protective 

Prices  —  Graft    from    the    Vice    Palaces  —  The 

Massage  Parlor  —  The  Drug  Crime  — 

The   Vampire   Trust. 

Woman  is  the  axis  around  which  revolves  the 
wheel  of  the  social  evil  today. 

When  directly  enmeshed  in  the  woman-traps  of 
the  Vice  Trust  she  is  the  enriching  factor  as  has  'been 
shown. 

Indirectly  connected  with  the  Vice  Trust  or  serv- 
ing it  off  and  on.  she  is  still  the  axis  of  swollen  profits 
to  the  Trust. 

It  is  the  purpose  in  this  chapter  to  show  the  side 
grafts  which  are  derived  from  the  existence  of  the 
persons  and  places  contributing  to  the  social  evil. 

Again  the  police  department  figures  as  the  "go- 
between"  hand  from  the  victims  of  sin  to  the  Direct- 
orate of  Ten.  It  is  through  their  protecting  agency, 
permitting  haunts  of  crime  and  vice  to  flourish  that 
the  already  monstrous  fortunes  of  the  vice  masters 
are  further  swollen. 

It  is  astounding  to  learn  the  varied  sources  of  side 
graft  in  the  city  of  Chicago  today.     As  we  have  said 


144     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

before,   everything  must  have  its  price  of  toleration 
or  cease  to  exist. 

A  few  of  the  most  notorious  and  flagrant  forms 
of  side  graft  as  separate  from  the  prostitute  and  her 
profession  are  to  be  exploited  in  this  chapter. 

THE   RENT   GRAFT. 

The  excess  rental  profit,  due  to  the  fact  that  at 
least  i,ooo  buildings  in  Chicago^  are  the  rendezvous 
or  dwelling  places  of  prostitutes  and  women  of  loose 
character,  is  today  $1,000,000. 

This  figure  is  based  on  the  conservative  estimate 
of  the  Vice  Commission  arrived  at  in  its  recent  in- 
vestigation. In  its  calculation  the  members  began 
with  the  figure  of  577  places  immorally  used.  They 
conservatively  estimated  that  $1,000  was  the  average 
excess  profit  of  rent  in  open  houses  in  the  restricted 
districts,  and  $300  was  a  similar  profit  per  year  on 
"flats"  and  assignation  hotels. 

This  same  profit  would  not  exist  if  vice  did  not 
place  a  high  price  on  the  haunts  where  it  thrives.  If 
the  profits  on  vice  are  so'  enormous,  the  Vice  Trust 
figures  that  the  resort  keepers  and  hotel  and  "flat" 
renters  can  pay  high  prices. 

The  prices  for  rent  on  "flats"  are  boosted  from 
$20  to  $40  above  the  actual  rental  valuation  of  the 
property. 

The  rental  price  on  property  in  the  segregated 
parts  of  the  city  is  raised  five  times  the  actual  rental 
figure. 

The  real  estate  owners,  and  the  real  estate  agents 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     145 

raise  the  price.  But  they  cannot  steal  this  vast  rental 
profit.  The  Vice  Trust  must  have  a  share.  A  spHt 
is  made.  The  lords  of  the  vice  combine  get  their 
share  of  the  rental  theft  and  back  into  the  pockets 
of  the   Directorate   of   Ten   goes   the   graft. 

If  this  money  is  not  paid  by  the  real  estate  men 
'and  property  owners,  then  they  are  the  losers  in  the 
long  run.  The  police  department  closes  the  place, 
refusing  to  allow  prostitutes  to  live  in  the  building. 

Result :  The  property  must  be  rented  to  people 
of  poor  condition  who  can  pay  but  small  rent.  The 
physical  value  oi  the  property  is  so  small  that  a  large 
rent  could  never  be  exacted  from  decent  citizens. 
Therefore  in  order  to  make  a  profit  himself,  the  lessor 
holds  the  rent  high,  countenances  prostitution  in  his 
buildings  and  pays  'his  graft  to  the  Vice  Trust. 

A  certain  real  estate  agent  controlling  a  building 
in  Cottage  Grove  avenue,  which  is  infested  with'  im- 
moral "flats,"  declared  that  he  boosted  the  rents  in  the 
'building  $30  for  each  flat  above  the  actual  rental 
valuation.  This  same  man  declared  that  he  was 
obliged  each  month  to  hand  over  to  detectives  who 
visited  him,  $20  on  each  flat,  leaving  him  but  a  boost 
of  ten  dollars  per  flat. 

A  woman  who  keeps  a  "flat"  in  Cottage  Grove 
avenue  declared  that  she  was  compelled  to  pay  $50 
for  a  $25  flat.  She  argued  with  the  real  estate  agent 
but  he  showed  her  that  if  she  desired  police  protec- 
tion she  would  have  to  meet  the  demand.     She  did  so. 

Some  time  later,  on  account  of  public  protest  by 
clean-living  citizens  near  this  place,  the  police  shut 


146    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

•    -  ■        i  *■  H  %  -  !  :i  ^.-r  If -vr  ;.  ,.]  -v-^i^^i^fi 
down  the  "flats"   in   the  building  in  one   day.     The 

women  inmates  moved  out.     A  week  later  those  flats 

which  'had   rented   from  $40  to  $75   to   the  immoral 

women,  were  rented  for  $15  to  $25  a  flat. 

Another  example  of  the  rent  graft  is  given  on 
the  West  side  levee.  A  resort  keeper  who  was  once 
known  as  a  king  of  the  West  side  levee,  owned  a 
two-story  building,  which  was  used  as  a  house  of 
prostitution  from  which  he  derived  the  enormous 
rental  of  $250  a  month.  The  place  was  situated  in 
Curtis  street.  The  street  was  "wiped  out"  by  the 
police.  A  week  later  the  two  flats  were  being  rented 
for  $20  apiece. 

There  is  one  estate  in  Chicago  today  situated  in  a 
levee  district  which  is  valued  at  $1,000,000.  If  the 
segregated  districts  were  w^iped  out  this  property 
would  not  be  worth  $20,000. 

As  an  indication  of  the  difficulty  that  would  be 
experienced  in  wiping  out  this  graft,  remember  that 
three  city  officials  are  owners  of  property  used  for 
immoral  purposes.  They  are  members  of  the  great 
Combine.  They  would  not  permit  the  destruction  of 
the  immoral  "flat"  system  because  it  would  deprive 
them  of  an  enormous  revenue. 

This  rental  graft  is  either  paid  to  the  police  who 
take  a  small  percentage  and  then  turn  the  remainder 
over  to  the  agents  of  the  Directorate  of  Ten,  in  return 
for  their  protection,  or  is  given  to  the  vice  powers 
direct  by  the  real  estate  agents. 

This  rental  graft  is  one  of  the  big  factors  in  main- 
taining a  City  Defiled.     To  strike  at  these  places  is 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     147 

to   strike  at   the  vice   lords   not   alone  through   their 
enslaved  women  but  through  their  property  valuations. 

THE    DISORDERLY    SALOON    AND    ITS    GRAFT. 

There  exist  in  the  city  of  Chicago  500  disorderly 
saloons.  Those  are  the  places  where  women  are 
allowed  to  frequent  the  backrooms  and  the  wine- 
rooms  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting  drinks  from  men. 

These  places  are  to  be  found  within  the  loop  dis- 
trict and  also  in  the  resident  sections  of  the  city. 

The  o^vners  of  these  places  make  enormous  profits 
by  the  exploitation  of  vice,  but  they  pay  monthly  large 
sums  to  the  Vice  Trust  in  order  to  carry  on  their 
business. 

Each  one  of  these  places  has  an  average  of  five 
women  "hustling''  for  it.  That  figure  is  a  low 
estimate. 

Drinks  are  sold  in  these  establishments  at  exor- 
ibitant  'and'  robbing  prices.  It  is  estimated  that  the 
gross  profit,  on  an  average,  is  175  per  cent  in  such 
places. 

On  the  basis  of  five  women  in  each  place,  earning 
three  dollars  a  day  as  commission,  which  is  formed 
on  a  twenty  per  cent  basis,  the  daily  net  profit  from 
these  five  girls,  is  $44.  For  a  year  this  calculation 
brings  forth  the  enormous  figure  of  $16,060  for  the 
proprietor.  By  computation  this  shows  that  the  total 
profit  of  500  saloons  for  one  year  is  $8.080,000 ! 

Think  of  that  fortune  in  poison  to  thousands  of 
men  and  women  who  frequent  these  infectious  places ! 

But  the  big  point  is  the  graft. 


148    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

But  the  big  split  must  be  made.  Out  of  that  swol- 
len profit,  the  Directorate  of  Ten  by  some  hook  or 
crook,  must  get  its  dividends. 

Although  the  price  of  protection  by  the  police, 
in  reality  protection  by  the  Big  Ten,  varies  according 
to  the  location,  possibilities  in  return  and  the  number 
of  women  who  work,  investigation  has  shown  that 
the  average  protective  price  of  the  disorderly  saloon 
is  $ioo  a  month. 

This  runs  as  high  as  $300  for  the  big  loop  places 
and  those  whose  revenues  are  excessively  high. 

Computing  on  the  conservative  basis  of  $100  per 
month,  this  means  that  the  Vice  Trust  reaps  a  golden 
harvest  of  $50,000  a  month  from  the  disorderly  saloons 
and  cafes  of  Chicago!  This  means  $600,000  graft 
a  year! 

In  many  of  these  places  forms  of  entertainment 
are  given,  as  for  instance  obscene  theatricals  and  im- 
moral dances.  These  places  increasing  their  revenue 
by  such  displays,  must  of  necessity  increase  their  graft 
to  the  powers  above.  To  run  such  "shows"  they  are 
compelled  to  pay  the  police  $50  a  month  more,  it  is 
said. 

In  some  districts  the  police  charge  for  permitting 
music  after  closing  hours.  This  graft  usually  is 
divided  among  the  local  police,  from  some  of  the 
police  captains  dbwn  to  the  man  on  the  beat. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     149 

DANCE  HALLS  AND  THE  IMMORAL  THEATERS 
AND    THEIR    GRAFT. 

The  dance  halls  which  are  found  in  every  section 
of  Chicago  and  the  cheap  arcades  and  some  of  ^he 
theaters  with  their  sugg-estive  dramas  and  vaudevilles 
are  the  starting  points  from  which  many  girls  go  to 
ruin.  These  places  earn  many  a  big  dollar  for  their 
owners.  But  again  the  Vice  Trust  holds  out  its  aching 
and  itching  palm  and  cries  for  lucrative  salve  and  is 
anointed  with  it.  These  places  pay  a  protective  police 
price  ranging  from  $25  to  $100  according  to  the 
degree  of  evil  displayed,  and  the  amounts  of  money 
taken  in  at  the  doors. 

The  privilege  of  selling  beer  at  these  infamous 
places  to  facilitate  the  work  of  destroying  the  souls 
of  young  women  and  young  men  is  placed  at  $50  a 
month  more  to  the  police. 

VICE    PALACES    AND    THEIR    GRAFT. 

In  previous  chapters  we  have  spoken  of  the  richly 
furnished  homes  of  vice  and  sin  where  the  man  of 
wealth  and  position  can  covertly  enjoy  his  debased 
passions  and  ruin  young  and  innocent  girls  with  the 
assurance  that  his  sins  will  not  find  him  out. 

These  places  to  carry  on  their  trade  in  human 
souls,  where  thousands  of  dollars  are  spent  on  el- 
egant furnishings  and  where  large  profits  accrue,  also 
have  their  prices  to  pay  the  police  and  the  political 
powers  in  the  Vice  Trust. 

Protection    prices,    ranging    from   $500   to   $1,000 


150     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

are  paid  each  month  to  insure  their  guests  and  de- 
prive them  of  the  fear  of  molestation. 

MANICURE  AND  MASSAGE  PARLORS 
AND    THEIR    GRAFT. 

These  evils  are  not  commonly  known.  The  loop 
district  is  infested  with  such  shops  which  are  nothing 
but  thin  veils  for  prostitutes.  Many  hotels  in  Chicago 
contain  such  forms  of  vicious  evil.  These  places  are 
known  to  the  police  and  the  women  in  them,  who  make 
a  pretense  of  legitimate  work  but  in  reality  are  ever 
on  the  alert  for  vice  victims,  are  compelled  to  pay 
high  protective  sums  to  continue  in  their  illegal  pro- 
fessions. 

These  places  in  the  loop  district  pay  'an  average 
graft  and  protective  price  of  $ioo  a  month.  This 
money,  taken  stealthily  by  the  agents,  is  sent  in  the 
bulk  to  the  members  of  the  Vice  Trust  as  in  every 
othef  form  of  graft. 

DRUG    SELLING    AND    ITS    GRAFT. 


A  large  percentage  of  the  lost  women  in  Chicago 
and  their  male  associates  are  the  victims  of  the  drug 
habit.  They  are  enslaved  either  by  the  opium,  cocaine 
or  morphine  curse.  They  must  have  these  insidious 
stimulants  to  exist,  once  they  are  trapped  by  this 
form  of  misery  among  men  and  women. 

The  sale  of  these  drugs  is  prohibited  by  law  except 
under  the  most  precautionary  methods.  In  the  South 
side  "redlight"  district  four  druggists  make  a  profit 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     151 

on  the  sale  of  these  drugs  which  is  larger  than  their 
income  on   all   other  articles  com'bined. 

The  sellers  of  these  drugs  must  of  necessity  be 
known  to  the  police  who  see  the  constant  throng  of 
hundreds  of  unfortunates  sneaking  shamefully  into 
the  places  to  procure  the  poisons  that  bring  pleasant 
dreams,  and  even  unconsciousness. 

These  places  pay  on  an  average  $150  a  month 
protection  money  to  officials  through  their  subor- 
dinates. 

THE  VAMPIRE  TRUST  AND  ITS  GRAFT. 

Wherever  wealth  congregates,  and  men  seek  to 
while  away  the  leisure  hours,  willing  to  spend  thou- 
sands of  dollars  in  a  night's  enjoyment,  there  you  will 
find  the  agents  of  vice  ready  to  minister  to  the  wants 
of  those  men. 

Out  of  such  conditions  has  been  born  the  Vampire 
Trust  of  Chicago. 

It  is  composed  of  more  than  100  women  of  loose 
dharacter,  women  steeped  in  sin  and  vice,  women  of 
apparent  refinement  and  dashing  appearance,  women 
of  beauty  and   luring  manner. 

These  women  infest  tbe  lobbies,  cafes  and  res- 
taurants of  the  most  exclusive  hotels  in  the  city.  Their 
victims  are  the  wealthy  Chicago  visitors  who  are  com- 
pelled to  forget  their  troubles  and  business  worries 
over  a  glass  of  wine  with  charming,  siren  members 


152    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

of  the  trust.    These  women  drug,  rob,  steal  and  black- 
mail their  victims. 

Many  of  these  women  have  extensive  police 
records.  Their  faces  are  known  to  the  old  and  young 
detectives  who  are  appointed  to  protect  the  city's 
guests. 

Then  why  are  they  allowed  to  carry  on  their 
thieving  trade  and  fatten  on  their  ill-gotten  gains? 

Again  there  is  but  one  answer. 

They  pay  their  protection  for  existence  and  are 
allowed  by  the  Vice  Trust  to  thrive  unmolested.  When 
a  victim  does  muster  up  enough  courage  to  complain 
to  the  police  that  he  has  been  victimized  by  a  Vampire, 
he  obtains  no  satisfaction.  In  fact  he  is  given  a  sig- 
nificant warning  against  prosecution. 

Most  of  the  victims  are  married  men,  with  almost 
unimpeachable  reputations  and  social  positions  and 
families.  They  are  told  by  the  police  officer  to  whom 
they  complain  that  if  they  attempt  to  punish  the 
woman  who  robbed  them,  the  story  would  become 
public  and  the  notoriety  would  do  more  harm  than 
the  loss  of  the  money. 

These  women  concert  with  the  members  of  the 
blackmailers'  trust.  These  men  point  out  prosepctive 
victims.  If  the  men  cannot  be  robbed,  their  reputa- 
tions are  jeopardized  and  then  the  women  threaten 
to  disgrace  them  by  telling  the  story  of  a  night  of 
shame. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     153 

It  is  hard  to  estimate  the  protective  price  paid  by 
these  women.  Judging  from  the  number  of  their 
victims  and  the  large  amounts  of  money  stolen,  the 
relative  protective  price  must  be  enormous. 

The  police  admit  the  existence  of  this  trust  as 
was  shown  by  a  high  police  official  in  a  recent  at- 
tempted prosecution  of  one  of  its  notorious  members, 
who  had  served  a  sentence  in  the  state  penitentiary 
'and  who  at  one  time  was  the  respected  wife  of  a 
Milwaukee  jeweler  and  a  prominent  member  of  Wis- 
consin society.  They  do  not  admit  that  these  women 
pay  them  a  price  to  carry  on  their  open  robbing  of 
victims. 

One  man  in  Chicago,  who  had  been  held  up  by 
these  infamous  wretches  and  bled  until  he  rebelled 
against  the  slavery,  recently  gave  up  the  battle,  com- 
mitted suicide  and  in  a  letter  penned  to  his  wife  before 
his  death,  told  of  the  outrages  he  had  been  subjected 
to  because  of  his  misstep. 

And  so  these  women  are  the  agents  of  the  Vice 
Trust,  the  associates  of  the  lowest  male  creatures  in 
Chicago,  the  parasites  of  rich  men  and  the  causes  of 
suicide,  murder  and  wrecked  homes. 

And  why? 

Because  the  Vice  Trust  must  have  its  toll.  Be- 
cause the  treasury  has  still  space  for  more  silver  and 
gold.  Because  the  hunger  and  thirst  of  the  Direct- 
orate of  Ten  is  never  appeased. 

Because  the  lust  of  the  political  powers  behind  the 
monster  Vice  is  insatiable. 


154    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

Not  because  men  must  submit  to  these  things  be- 
cause unruly  passions  drive  them  to  shame,  misery, 
remorse  and  death,  as  has  been  fallaciously  charged. 

These  are  the  subsidiary  vices  from  which  millions 
of  dollars  are  garnered  yearly  to  feed  the  Directorate 
of  Ten,  to  put  new  diamonds  on  shirt  fronts,  brighter 
stones  in  heavy  gold  rings,  new  automobiles  to  wait 
for  them  outside  their  palaces  whose  every  stone  is 
hewn  by  the  torn,  cut  and  bleeding  hands  of  thousands 
of  women  slaves  and  raised  to  its  place  by  exhausted 
weakened  and  dying  creatures. 

Graft,  graft,  graft ! 

That  word  sings,  echoes  and  reverberates  through 
the  underworld  of  Chicago.  It  is  the  slogan  of  the 
Vice  Trust.  It  is  the  mystic  sign  of  the  vice  frater- 
nity. 

And  while  the  Vice  Trust  screams  like  a  voice 
from  the  last  depths  of  hell : 

Graft,  more  graft !  — 

The  victims  lost  in  the  depths  of  the  Inferno  echo 
back :  — 

Death',  and  more  victims ! 

Who  can  really  estimate  the  actual  amount  of 
graft  reaped  from  sin  which  eats  into  the  hearts  of 
a  lost  and  perished  womanhood? 

Our  estimates  have  been  conservative.  They  have 
been   based    on   an    average   system  of   computation. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     155 

The  actual  figures  if  we  were  able  to  carry  our  search- 
light of  truth  into  the  coffers  of  the  Directorate  of 
Ten  must  be  far  above  those  we  have  given. 

We  have  sought  to  tell  the  truth.  In  our  hearts 
we  know  that  such  graft  passes  from  the  vicious  to 
their  masters  each  day.  From  the  victims  themselves 
we  have  learned  the  figures  which  we  have  given 
above. 

Is  there  any  wonder  that  after  a  thorough  con- 
sideration of  the  subject  from  every  viewpoint,  we 
have  closed  our  eyes  and  from  the  depth  of  our  soul 
cried  out  in  sincere  conviction  :  — 

CHICAGO  IS  THE  WICKEDEST  CITY  IN 
THE  WORLD! 


■  CHAPTER  VIII. 

Gambling  and  its  Graft. 

The   Gambler's   Fate  — The   Handbook,   Other   Games   of 

Chance   and   Their   Protection  —  Police   Profit 

—  All    Gambling    Crooked  — 

A   Warning. 

In  the  very  heart  of  every  man,  woman  and  child 
is  an  instinct  to  risk  the  tangible  and  present  for  the 
intangible  and  the  possible  future  things. 

Since  the  beginning  man  has  played  some  game 
of  chance  in  his  struggle  for  existence.  He  has 
counted  his  own  possibilities  as  against  those  of  his 
enemy,  he  has  abided  for  what  seemed  the  most  op- 
portune time  and  then  he  has  risked  and  taken  the 
leap.  Often  the  goddess  of  Chance  has  been  with 
him.  More  often  that  strange  goddess  has  risen 
against  him. 

The  boy  risks  his  marbles  against  those  of  his 
playmate.  The  girl  casts  her  jacks  against  those  of 
her  small  companion. 

It  is  the  desire  of  risk  showing  itself  in  the  im- 
mature mind. 

As  civilization  went  on  and  reason  developed,  the 
game  of  chance  became  a  sport  which  had  for  its 
object  a  lucrative  gain  in  some  manner  or  other. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     157 

It  became  gambling :  —  the  risking  of  something 
valuable  on  the  basis  that  the  risk  may  prove  profit- 
able to  the  risker. 

The  pages  of  history  are  dotted  with  evidences  of 
gambling  in  every  age.  Gambling  has  passed  through 
a  million  forms.  In  our  present  day  life  it  is  looked 
upon  by  the  general  public  as  a  sport. 

It  is  the  purpose  here  not  to  dissertate  on  gambling 
as  a  moral  and  commercial  evil  alone,  but  to  show  that 
it  is  nothing  today  but  another  asset  of  the  Vice 
Trust,  stolen  out  of  the  not  too  plethoric  pocket  of  the 
sucker  public. 

It  is  our  purpose  to  show  that  a  gambling  ring, 
backed  by  millions  of  dollars,  headed  by  powerful  men 
and  strengthened  by  the  support  of  the  members  of 
th'e  Vice  Trust,  thrives  in  Chicago,  adding  one  more 
stain  to  her  already  besmirched  municipal  escutheon. 

It  fattens  on  those  men  and  women  who  have  al- 
ready been  fleeced  by  the  way  of  the  social  evil  and 
on  those  wh'o  have  not  fallen  victims  to  that  sin,  and 
whose  besetting  sin  is  gambling. 

RUIN,  PRISON  OR  DEATH,  THE  GAMBLER'S  END. 

Yearly,  thousands  of  young  men  are  hurled  to 
financial  ruin,  sent  or  headed  to  the  pnitentiary  be- 
cause of  the  gambling  houses  in  the  city  of  Chicago 
that  run  full  blast  with  the  officers  of  the  law  walking 
blindly  past  their  open  doors. 

The  gambling  vice  grasps  its  victims  in  a  clutch 
as  powerful  as  the  grip  of  the  drug  habit  or  as  un- 
yielding as  the  toils  of  immorality. 


158    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

The  gambling  combine  in  Chicago  is  as  strong  as 
the  most  powerful  house  of  finance.  It  is  bulwarked 
by  every  possible  protection.  You  cannot  beat  it,  in 
the  long  run,  no  matter  what  your  talents,  judgment 
and  experience  may  be. 

The  average  man  or  woman  would  stand  'a  fair 
show  of  winning  in  the  average  gambling  game  in 
Chicago  were  that  game  "on  the  square."  But  it  is 
not;  the  entire  system  is  crooked.  That  is  how  its 
profits  are  enormous. 

The  thousands  of  persons  who  play  the  handbooks 
during  the  day,  the  poker  games  'and  other  forms  of 
the  gambling  evil  at  night,  have  no  more  choice  of 
emerging  with  the  "long  green"  bulging  from  every 
pocket  than  has  the  mouse  that  is  caught  by  the  soft- 
pawed  cat  in  a  room  and  played  with  until  tired  and 
then  killed.  There  is  no  escape.  Everything  is 
crooked  and  the  gambling  sucker  is  dubbed  the  "bleat- 
ing sheep"  the  minute  he  enters  where  the  chips  rattle 
on  the  table  or  where  the  man  with  the  dirty  dollar 
smears  3^our  name  on  a  chart  with  a  stub  pencil. 

Each  year  hundreds  of  men  and  women  end  their 
blasted  lives  after  they  have  emerged  from  the  dens 
of  the  gambling  lords,  robbed  of  their  last  cent  and 
face  to  face  with  ruin,  disgrace,  and  punishment. 

Each  year,  men  are  sent  to  our  state  prisons  be- 
cause they  dipped  their  trembling  hands  into  the 
gold  in  their  employers'  till  to  make  up  the  money 
the  gambling  fraternity  had   taken  from   them. 

Each  year,  hundreds  of  women  see  their  homes 
crumble  beneath  them,   stand   with   tear-stained   eves 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     159 

and  watch  their  social  positions  taken  from  them,  lose 
the  love  and  protection  of  their  husbands  and  are 
turned  adrift  to  stray  into  the  hell  houses  we  have 
described,  because  the  gambHng  germ  was  imbedded 
and  flourished  in  their  blood  and  drove  them  on  to 
unnameable   ruin. 

There  is  no  way  of  estimating  the  evils  consequent 
on  the  vice  of  gambling  as  it  exists  in  Chicago  today. 

A    GAMBLER'S    END. 

As  a  specific  instance  of  the  destructive  power  of 
the  gambling  combine  a  Chicagoan  recently  committed 
suicide  after  dissipating  a  fortune  in  flirting  with  the 
goddess  of  Chance. 

In  his  pockets,  stained  with  blood  from  the  bullet 
wound  through  which  his  life  had  ebbed  away,  was 
the  following  note : 

"Several  persons  have  the  right  dope  on  the  dive, 
gamblers  and  the  police.  They  let  a  victim  go  there 
until  they  get  all  and  then  they  backball  him.  Why 
not  destroy  these  vicious  people  and  close  the  dives 
and  save  people  from  committing  suicide? 

"This  is  the  raving  of  a  dying  and  ruined  man  but 
I  know  what  I  am  doing  just  the  same." 

Do  the  police  dare  tamper  with  these  men  flaunting 
their  violations  of  the  law  in  their  faces? 

Even  if  they  desired  they  could  not  do  them  harm. 
The  gambling  kings  are  in  direct  alliance  with  mem- 
bers of  the  Directorate  of  Ten  of  the  Vice  Trust. 
They   turn   over   to   it   fifty   per   cent   of   their    enor- 


160    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

mous  income  for  the  privilege  of  making  the  other 
fifty  per  cent. 

Even  in  the  face  of  a  rigid  and  apparently  sin- 
cere recent  crusade  against  the  unholy  combine  be- 
tween police  and  gamblers,  gambling  continued  to 
carry  on  its  trade  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  City 
Hall  and  underneath  the  shadows  of  certain  big  police 
stations. 

The  ganiibling  kings  are  even  more  avaricious  and 
selfish  in  their  wealthy  combine  than  are  the  members 
of  the  combine  living  off  the  social  sin. 

A   POWER   SUPREME. 

No  one  dares  attempt  to  come  into  the  chosen  circle 
unless  by  direct  consent  of  the  big  lords,  and  after 
he  has  sworn  abject  allegiance  to  the  gambling 
chiefs.  He  must  show  the  proper  spirit  by  yielding 
up  a  large  per  cent  of  profit.  If  this  is  not  forth- 
coming, the  police  suddenly  and  mysteriously  awaken 
to  the  fact  that  the  unfortunate  man  is  running  a 
gambling  establishment.  He  is  raided,  arrested  and 
put  out  of  business,  while  a  chosen  servant  of  the 
fraternity  shovels  in  the  golden  harvest  from  the 
suckers  across  the  street,  drops  a  few  choice  coins  into 
the  hands  of  the  police  who  raided  the  opposition 
place  and  plies  his  trade  in  perfect  quiet,  comfort 
and  security. 

That  is  the  power  of  the  gambling  kings.  They 
are  the  high  "lieutenants"  of  the  Vice  Trust.  They 
are  given  big  concessions  and  extraordinary  powers 
because  they  are  in  position  to  show  their  fealty  by 


GOD  WORKS   MIRACLES   TODAY. 


Copyrighted    1910    by    I'lie    Midnight    Mission. 
Used    by   permission    of    owners    of    copyright. 
A  hardened  heart  softened  by  the  appeal  of  a  fellow  man. 
A    drugged    conscience   awakened    by   a    word    picture 
of    men's    and    women's    shame    and    degradation. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     161 

the  payment  of  thousands  of  dollars  of  tribute  weekly. 

The  gambling  organization  is  so  perfect  today  that 
there  is  no  chance  to  beat  it. 

To  perfect  the  system  now  in  vogue  it  was  neces- 
sary to  do  away  with  all  forms  of  competition  and 
opposition.  This  was  finally  accomplished  after  the 
expenditure  of  thousands  of  dollars  by  the  gambling 
combine  in  control  today. 

CHICAGO'S   BOMB    WAR. 

■  ■"■  ^if 

It  was  the  spirit  of  competition  and  the  rivalry  of 
factions  that  led  to  the  bomb  throwing  epoch  which 
lias  left  such  a  deep  stain  on  the  history  of  Chicago. 

Dynamite,  gun  cotton,  nitroglycerine  and  other 
dangerous  combustibles  were  used  to  whip  the  enemies 
into  line. 

The  bomb  throwing  era  which  was  the  talk  of 
the  nation,  was  nothing  more  than  the  outward  ex- 
pression of  the  gamblers'  hate.  The  bombs  thrown 
were  the  means  of  eliminating  the  competitor  and 
bringing  the  enemies  into  the  ranks  of  the  favored  as 
mere  slaves. 

In  three  years,  fifty  bombs  were  hurled  by  gam- 
blers in  the  city  of  Chicago.  A  million  dollars'  worth 
of  property  was  destroyed,  men  were  maimed  and 
families  ibroken  up  in  this  terrible  war.  The  first 
bombs  were  directed  against  the  men  in  command 
of  the  gambling  forces.  These  men  then  realizing 
the  power  of  the  dynamiters,  employed  them  to  destroy 
the  enemies  of  the  protected  organization. 

As  a  result  the  gambling  combine  today  is  based 


162    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

on  dynamite  and  gunpowder.  The  police  knew  who 
threw  the  bombs  but  dared  not  arrest  the  criminals. 
Every  form  of  gambling  controlled  by  the  gam- 
bling combine  can  be  found  in  Chicago.  The  high- 
priced  forms  are  found  in  the  loop  district,  the 
gambling  handbooks  are  found  everywhere,  and  the 
cheap  forms  can  be  met  with  in  any  part  of  the  big 
city. 

MEMBERSHIP   OF   THE    GAMBLING   COMBINE. 

There  are  nine  residents  and  property  holders  of 
Chicago  in  the  directorate  of  the  gambling  fraternity 
and  combine.  These  men  control  the  vicious  gambling 
situation  today. 

These  men  control  one  of  th'e  largest  and  most  in- 
fluential systems  in  the  world.  They  employ  thou- 
sands of  men  to  do  their  bidding  and  exact  thousands 
of  dollars  daily  from  the  pockets  of  an  unwary  public. 

These  men  as  a  combine,  are  subsidiary  to  the 
great  Vice  Trust.  These  men  play  directly  into  the 
hands  of  the  Directorate  of  Ten  which  we  have  shown 
as  feasting  off  the  well  laden  tables  of  prostitution, 
sin  and  women.  They  derive  their  terrible  and  crush- 
ing power  through  the  big  vice  masters.  They  divide 
the  profits  with  them.  Th'ey  pay  high  protection  in 
order  to  operate  the  thousand  and  one  forms  of 
gambling  which  they  back  daily,  from  the  cheap  crap 
games  to  the  highest  and  most  money  yielding  games 
of  bridge  or  to  the  most  lucrative,  whirling  roulette 
wheels. 

One  of  these  men  controlling  this  terrible  vice  is 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     163 

today  a  member  of  the  city  council  making  Chicago's 
laws  for  righteousness ;  one  is  a  former  member  of 
the  Illinois  State  legislature;  one  holds  a  high  place 
in  City  Hall  circles,  and  another  is  a  prominent  busi- 
ness man  carrying  on  a  business  as  a  veil  to  his  real 
and  disgraceful  profession. 

THE  HANDBOOK   EVIL  AND   ITS   GRAFT. 

There  exist  in   Chicago   i,ooo  handbooks. 

A  handbook,  for  the  benefit  of  the  unsophisticated 
reader,  is  a  record  made  in  a  local  place  of  horse  races 
which  are  being  run  off  at  a  distance.  As  for  in- 
stance, a  cigar  store  in  the  loop  district  makes  bets 
on  races  which  are  being  run  off  at  Jacksonville, 
Florida. 

The  handbooks  are  run  in  saloons,  cigar  stores, 
hotels,  and  on  newsstands.  Here  the  dollars  of  the 
sucker  patrons  are  drawn  from  their  pockets  as  by 
magic,  turned  over  to  the  agents  of  the  gambling 
trust,  never  to  return.  Clerks,  stenographers,  office 
boys,  all  classes  of  salaried  men  and  women  'are  the 
victims  of  the  handbook  habit  in  Chicago. 

Day  after  day  this  unseeing  public  scratches  its 
head  of  "solid  ivory,"  puzzles  its  brain  in  desperation 
and  goes  out  to  "beat"  the  combination  that  never  has 
known  a  real  defeat. 

Barnum  said  "there  is  one  sucker  born  every 
minute."  Truly  there  is.  The  birth  statistics  of  the 
Chicago  sucker,  male  and  female,  mostly  male,  is 
greater  than  the  birth  rate  of  innocent  children.  This 
is  a  queer  world. 


164    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

THE  WOMAN   GAMBLER. 

In  quiet  and  refined  neighborhoods,  in  th'e  rear 
of  candy  stores  and  even  dry  goods  stores,  women 
who  are  considered  spotless  by  their  social  associ- 
ates drop  in  daily,  nervously  look  over  the  "dope 
sheet,"  pick  their  winner,  and  hurl  their  husbands' 
hard-earned  dollars  into  the  yawning  pockets  of  the 
gambling  combine. 

THE  GAMBLING  VEINS  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 

These  thousand  handbooks  daily  furnishing  the 
names  of  horses  running  on  every  track  in  the  United 
States,  must  have  some  means  of  acquiring  that  im- 
portant information. 

The  Vice  Trust  is  never  at  loss  to  furnish  a 
medium  through  which  its  graft  may  'be  increased. 

The  members  of  the  Vice  Trust  looked  about  for 
men  trained  to  the  fine  arts  of  separating  the  innocent 
and  unwary  from  their  dollars,  and  found  the  men 
who  today  are  the  leaders  of  the  gambling  combine. 

These  men  incorporated  themselves  secretly  into 
a  powerful  corporation,  —  the  gambling  industry,  cap- 
ital unlimited. 

The  superintendent  of  the  strangest  gambling  news 
agency  in  Chicago  is  Mont  Tennes,  for  twenty  years 
associated  with  the  gambling  world  in  one  way  or 
another.  Through  a  news  service,  which  leases  tele- 
phone and  telegraph  wires,  this  man  gathers  into  his 
clearing  houses  and  exchanges  in  Chicago,  the  daily 
news  of  the  race  tracks  of  the  world. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     165 

This  news,  once  gathered  into  "headquarters,"  is 
sold  to  every  handbook  runner  in  the  city  at  prices 
ranging  from  $12  to  $250  a  month. 

This  news  is  the  same  to  every  place  in  the  city 
to  which  it  is  sent  by  telephone,  Oir  telegraph.  The 
price  for  that  news  varies  in  proportion  to  the  size 
of  the  place  receiving  the  service  and  the  amount 
of  the  daily  profits  scraped  from  the  skins  of  the 
sucker  patrons. 

This  wire  service  is  national,  not  local.  It  is  the 
veins  and  arteries  through  which  the  gambling  fluid 
flows  daily  to  many  cities  in  the  country. 

On  the  circuit,  furnishing  gambling  news,  there 
are  twenty-nine  cities  that  are  receiving  gambling  in- 
formation daily  and  paying  for  it. 

In  each  of  these  cities,  this  gambling  magnate  has 
an  agent  selected  to  receive  his  information  and  to 
distribute  to  places  in  that  city  demanding  it  on  the 
payment  of  high  sums  of  money. 

The  agent  pays  for  the  right  of  such  dissemina- 
tion. This  man  in  the  aggregate  receives  $40,000  a 
month  from  the  agents  in  twenty-nine  cities  on  his 
circuit  who  reap  vast  fortunes  from  the  sending  of 
the  gambling  news  to  the  handbooks  in  their  re- 
spective territories.  The  "boss"  is  not  satisfied  with 
the  swollen  profit.  He  demands  a  certain  percentage 
in  the  various  cities  from  the  profits  of  the  local  men 
using  his  service. 


166    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 
THE  HANDBOOK  PROFIT  AND  GRAFT. 

Sixty  thousand  "pikers"  in  Chicago  feeding  the 
gambling  goddess  through  her  handbook  mouth  daily ! 

Is  that  figure  something  to  startle  you  ?    It  is  true. 

The  "piker"  plays  in  small  spurts  from  fifty  cents 
to  three  dollars  a  day.  Then  the  bets  soar  up  the 
ladder  until  you  reach  the  rich  sucker  who  shovels 
out  as  much  as  $500  a  day  on  an  average.  Bets  are 
paid  as  high  as  $10,000  in  one  day  on  downtown 
handbooks. 

One  man  in  State  street  has  maintained  a  $25,000 
a  day  business  for  ten  years  on  an  average.  This 
has  been  actually  proven. 

There  are  twenty  places  downtown  where  hand- 
books are  maintained  that  do  an  average  business  of 
$5,000  a  day  year  in  and  year  out,  with  men  who 
dream  and  plan  to  beat  the  unconquerable  combine. 

Police  officials  who  have  consented  to  talk  because 
they  have  been  disowned  by  political  masters  and  a 
former  partner  of  the  present  gambling  head  declare 
that  $300  is  a  fair  and  conservative  estimate  of  the 
income  from  a  horde  of  suckers  of  each  of  the  1,000 
handbook  establishments  daily. 

This  means  $300,000  per  day  changes  hands  in  the 
race  of  men  to  exercise  their  gambling  interests. 

The  'betting  combinations  are  so  arranged,  ac- 
cording to  experts,  that  the  one  sucker  is  pitted  against 
his  brother  and  not  against  the  house. 

The  placement  of  money  on  horse  flesh  is  so  ar- 
ranged that  no  matter  how  the  horses  run,  a  profit 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     167 

of  at  least  ten  per  cent  accrues  to  the  bookmaker.  He 
is  never  the  big  loser.  In  cold  cash  that  means 
$30,000  a  day  to  the  handbook  men  of  the  city. 

Few  of  the  races  or  the  racing  tips  are  "on  the 
square."  The  sucker  plays  and  attempts  to  defeat  a 
system  which  is  nothing  more  than  one  crooked 
scheme  within  another. 

Fifty  per  cent  of  that  is  needed  by  the  handbook 
men  to  operate  their  places.  It  is  used  in  the  pay- 
ment of  salaries  to  hirelings,  wire  service,  rent,  tele- 
phone service,  printing  and  miscellaneous  financial 
obligations. 

The  balance  or  $15,000  is  split  between  two  mighty 
factors.  Seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  are  kept 
by  the  poolroom  combination  and  an  equal  sum  is 
paid,  through'  members  of  the  police  force,  or  other 
collectors,  as  protection  money  to  the  great  powers 
of  the  Vice  Trust. 

THE  POLICE  PROFIT. 

The  local  police  for  their  vigilance  in  steering  ire- 
formers  from  the  door  of  the  gambling  holes,  carry- 
ing on  fake  raids  and  helping  the  sucker  to  forget 
the  loss  of  his  bankroll  by  rubbing  his  injured  pocket- 
book  with  the  salve  of  warning  to  keep  away  and 
learn  a  lesson,  must  be  given  their  share.  Then  the 
"big  fellows"  who  in  the  department  are  the  spokes- 
men for  the  Vice  com'bine  must  dig  out  their  share. 
Then  the  remainder,  —  a  large  remainder,  —  must  go 
back  to  the  Directorate  of  Ten. 

Stop  and  think  how  swollen  and  bloated  this  figure 


168     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

becomes  when  considered  from  the  standpoint  of  an 
annuity. 

Two  million  six  hundred  and  twenty-four  thousand 
dollars  are  paid  each  year  to  the  Vice  Trust  and  the 
big  political  lords  for  the  right  to  ro'b  the  general 
public,  prey  upon  its  tempting  instinct  to  dare  a  chance, 
and  drive  the  individual  to  ruin,  starvation  and  death. 

That  same  amount  of  money  is  split  up  yearly 
between  the  handbook  combination  and  the  agents 
throughout  the  city. 

OTHER  FORMS  OF  GAMBLING  AND  GRAFT. 

The  handbook  which  we  have  described  in  its 
method  of  operation  and  its  graft  for  police  protec- 
tion is  the  common  man's  expression  of  his  gambling 
instinct. 

There  are  five  hundred  other  temples  of  the  god- 
dess of  Chance,  in  v/hich  a  variety  of  gambling  games 
are  played  nightly.  In  some  of  these  places  every 
form  of  chance  game  can  be  found  in  full  force  each 
night.  In  others,  a  specialty  of  one  kind  of  game 
is  made. 

The  principal  forms  af  gambling  that  flourish  to- 
day 'are  roulette,  poker,  stuss  (a  Jewish  form  of 
poker),  fan-tan,  faro,  whist,  craps,  black  jack  and 
hearts. 

In  a  Michigan  avenue  hotel  at  Twenty-second 
street  a  roulette  wheel  is  spun  nightly  to  the  tune 
of  $3,000.  Hundreds  of  men  and  women  crowd  into 
the  stuffy  room,  filled  with  smoke  and  the  fumes  of 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     169 

beer  and  wine,   and  stake   their   all  on  the   whirling 
colors. 

The  man  that  plays  to  break  the  bank  at  that  place 
is  playing  the  same  game  as  the  man  who  starts  out 
to  tear  the  castiron  bottom  out  of  the  bank  of 
Monte  Carlo. 

It  can't  be  done. 

Behind  the  whir  and  hum  of  that  maddening  wheel 
is  $50,000  held  by  the  keepers  of  the  game.  Try  to 
break  into  that  treasury  with  pick,  axe  or  jimmy 
and  you  will  be  caught,  trapped  and  bled  to  death. 

In  a  house  recently  closed  because  of  the  objec- 
tionaible  notoriety  it  had  obtained,  the  gambling  and 
vice  powers  are  said  to  have  cleaned  up  over  $100,000 
in  three  months.  That  place  was  located  in  Michigan 
avenue  near  Thirteenth  street.  All  forms  of  chance 
were  thrown  into  the  gambling  pot,  melted  and  handed 
out  to  the  "pikers"  as  so  many  gold  bricks  nightly. 

In  a  famous,  or  rather  infamous,  whist  club  in  a 
downtown  building,  whose  doors  open  in  the  face 
of  the  offices  of  several  prominent  lawyers,  $20,000 
a  night  is  cleaned  up  by  the  keepers. 

There  are  a  dozen  similar  places  in  the  loop  dis- 
trict where  the  money  that  changes  hands  in  one  night, 
averages  $10,000.  Men  acquainted  with  the  situation 
declared  that  $500  a  day  is  a  very  conservative  average 
of  money  changing  hands  in  the  various  gambling 
holes  in  Chicago. 


170    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

For  the  500  places  this  means  an  exchange  of 
$250,000  a  day. 

Oh,  will  a  freshly  awakened  civic  conscience  save 
a  demoralized  public  from  itself,  or  will  the  lethargy 
w'hiclh  is  upon  Chicago  allow  the  thousands  of  young 
men,  men  with  wives  and  families,  to  'hurry  them- 
selves on  to  ruin  and  to  death? 

The  gamWing  houses,  according  to  old  time  gam- 
blers, on  all  forms  of  gambling,  make  a  "rakeoff"  of 
about  seven  per  cent  on  each  dollar  cast  by  a  victim 
before  their  greedy  eyes. 

This  means  $17,500  a  day.  Fifty  per  cent  of  that 
or  $8,750,  is  iretained  by  the  gambling  house  keepers 
for  expenses.  The  remaining  profit  goes  the  old,  old 
way,  one  half  —  $4,375  —  is  split  between  the  gam- 
bling under  lords  and  the  gambling  kings. 

An  equal  amount,  goes  to  the  Vice  Trust  for  the 
protection  received  from  the  police. 

GAMBLING    IN    CONCLUSION  —  ITS    CROOKED 
CHARACTER. 

So  greedy  and  avaricious  are  the  big  chiefs  of  the 
gambling  fraternity  and  the  members  of  the  Vice  Trust 
that  after  all  is  said  and  done,  there  is  little  left  for 
the  game  keeper. 

As  a  result  even  the  little  sporting  instinct  he  may 
have  is  sacrificed  and  he  becomes  crooked  in  every 
dtealing  he  has  with  the  paying  public. 

"Ninety-eight  per  cent  of  the  gambling  games  in 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     171 

Chicago  today  are  crooked,"  declared  a  well-known 
gambler.  "There  is  no  money  in  the  profession  unless 
the  public  can  be  hoodwinked." 

Science,  eltctricity,  hypnotism,  sleight  of  hand,  or 
other  means  are  used  to  deceive  the  player. 

Unless  you  can  note  the  swift  touch  of  the  gam- 
bler's foot  on  the  electric  button,  which  drops  the 
little  ball  into  the  red  hole  when  you  bet  on  the  black, 
you  face  ruin  every  time  you  face  the  roulette  wheel. 

Can  you  see  the  invisible  hand  that  is  doping  the 
racetrack  sheet?  If  you  cannot,  stay  away  from  the 
handbook  or  be  prepared  to  look  into  the  dark  and 
murky  waters  of  the  river  as  a  final  hiding  place 
of  shame. 

Do  you  think  the  friendly  game  of  poker  is  on 
"the  square"?  If  you  do  you  are  mistaken.  The 
house  has  two  men,  professional  sharks,  fishing  for 
your  money.  They  are  out  to  get  it  and  they  will 
succeed.  They  will  whip-saw  you  back  and  forth 
until  they  exhaust  you  and  tire  your  alertness.  Then 
they  will  crucify  you  on  the  cross  of  your  own  cupidity 
and  zeal  to  make  a  millionaire's  fortune  in  a  night 
on  the  income  of  a  counter  clerk. 

The  game  has  not  been  beaten.  That  is  why  the 
gambling  combine  is  strong.  That  is  why  it  has  the 
support  of  the  Vice  Trust.  Like  the  man  who  hopes 
to  withstand  the  temptations  of  the  crime-centers,  and 
as  the  woman  who  ventures  is  poinsoned  unto  death 
with  the  venom  of  sin,  so  the  man  who  goes  forth  to 
tempt    Fate   and   win   a   kiss   from   the   cold   lips   of 


172     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

Chance,  is  enmeshed  before  he  is  aware  of  it  and  borne 
onward  in  the  terrible  maelstrom  which'  hurls  him  into 
the  bottomless  pit  of  infamy  and  shame. 

The  gambling  curse  is  a  terrible  one.  Its  stigma 
burns  on  the  cheek  of  its  victims  forever.  Scarcely 
any  hope  can  be  'held  out  to  the  man  who  is  trapped 
by  its  subtle  lure. 

To  those  young  men  and  young  women  of  the  city 
and  the  country,  we  write  this  warning.  We  have 
s^hown  that  you  "cannot  beat  the  game,"  no  matter 
how  intelligently  you  try. 

The  Vice  Trust  has  never  known  defeat.  It  will 
not  know  defeat  in  this  enormous  source  of  revenue 
pouring  into  its  coffers  annually  from  the  favored, 
police-protected,  bomb-throwing,  life-destroying  Gam- 
bling Combine. 


IF    HOLDUPS    INCREASE. 


By    Courtesy   of   The    Chicago   Daily    News. 


STEPPING   OUT   TO   POST   A   LETTER 
May   take   the   form   of  an  armed   sortie. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Tearing  Off  the  Police  Mask. 

A   Story   of  the  Hypocrisy  of  the  Police   Department  — 

Its  Neglect  of  Duty  —  Its  Protection  of  Crime 

—  The  Fate  of  the  Honest  Policeman  — 

Collusion  of  Police  and  Thieves. 

The  minds  which  conspire  to  create  a  system  such- 
as  the  Vice  Trust  is  shown  to  control,  must  of  neces- 
sity find  agents  to  carry  on  the  various  phases  of  the 
work. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  that  no  species  of  vice 
or  sin  exists  in  Chicago  except  at  the  will  of  the  vice 
lords  and  in  return  for  the  payment  of  large  sums 
of  money. 

In  a  large  majority,  the  police  department,  holding 
in  its  hands  the  power  to  enforce  or  ignore  the  laws 
of  the  city,  state  or  country,  is  the  thumb  screw  used 
by  the  Vice  Trust  to  exact  its  toll  of  sin-existence. 

This  <body  of  men,  each  one  of  whom  swore  on 
his  word  of  honor  before  God  and  man  to  enforce  the 
man-made  laws,  as  a  whole,  is  decaying  with'  the 
poison  of  graft  and  vice  in  its  veins. 

From  a  servant  of  the  people,  the  policeman  has 
become  the  servant  of  the  people's  enemies. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     175 

Trapped  and  enmeshed  by  the  poHtical  powers 
above  them  hundreds  of  policemen  prostitute  their 
power  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  and  abetting-  sin  and 
vice  and  in  defrauding  the  people  of  their  proper 
tax-paid  protection. 

There  are  4,000  memebers  of  the  department  of 
police  in  Chicago  today.  There  are  a  chief  of  police, 
twenty  captains,  numerous  lieutenants  and  sergants 
and  at  least  3,800  patrolmen.  Through  this  body  of 
men,  many  of  whom  promised  their  God  and  their 
own  conscience  to  do  their  duty,  are  men  sold  body 
ajid  soul  to  the  vice  lords  who,  it  has  been  shown, 
control  Chicago  and  derive  fortunes  from  the  ex- 
ploitation of  vice. 

These  are  the  men  to  whom  every  law  abiding 
citizen  trusts  his  or  her  life  year  in  and  year  out. 
These  are  the  men  appointed  to  protect  property 
against  criminal  depredation,  to  make  the  streets  clean 
of  crime,  and  to  watch  over  our  children. 

And  yet,  investigation  has  shown  that  the  ex- 
ecutive heads  of  this  big  law  enforcing  system,  in 
many  instances,  are  Ciooked,  corrupt  and  purchased. 

Many  of  the  men  holding  high  positions  in  the 
police  department  aio  there  because  the  Vice  Trust 
has  found  them  of  service  and  because  they  are  ready 
ever  to  do  the  'bidding  of  their  masters. 

The  politics  of  the  department  is  largely  a  matter 
of  the  politics  of  the  Vice  Trust,  as  has  been  shown 
by  recent  investigations. 

Gambling  runs  full  blast,  houses  of  prostitution 
openly  carry  on  their  immoral  practices,  street  walkers 


176     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

wink  at  the  policemen  on  their  beats,  pickpockets 
laugh  at  the  plain  clotJies  men,  robbers  loot  homes  and 
places  of  business,  crimes  of  every  conceivable  de- 
scription are  committed,  a  gambling  war  is  allowed 
to  terrorize  Chicago,  because  the  police  department 
is  sold  'body  and  soul,  revolver  and  star,  to  the  masters 
of  the  underworld. 

The  hundred  and  one  duties  of  the  policeman  are 
neglected  daily  because  he  is  busy  helping  some  vicious 
criminal  friend  of  the  Vice  Trust. 

The  history  of  the  Chicago  police  department  today 
is  a  history  of  a  duty  neglectea  and  a  sacred  re- 
sponsibility shirked. 

Even  if  certain  members  of  the  police  force  de- 
sired to  do  their  duty,  the  meshes  have  so  tightened 
albout  them,  they  are  so  compromised  with  the  big 
lieutenants  of  vice  and  sin,  that  to  save  themselves 
and  their  families,  they  must  go  on  violating  their 
sacred  oath  of  ofifice  and  living  a  life  of  cowardice 
and  hypocrisy. 

If  the  police  department  was  not  a  subsidized  body, 
the  Vice  Trust  would  have  a  hard  time  carrying  out 
its  plans.  It  could  not  whip  into  line  the  varied  and 
complicated  characters  of  sin  with  which  it  deals  to 
lucrative  advantage. 

THE  FATE  OF  ONE  POLICE  OFFICIAL. 

Its  subsidy  was  proven  clearly  in  the  recent  con- 
viction of  a  West  side  inspector  of  police  for  the  ac- 
ceptance of  protection  money.     He  was  one  of  hun- 


Copyrighted    19  lo    by    The    Midnight    Mission. 
Used    liy    permission    ol    owners    of    copyright. 

Where   one  escapes  the  toils  of  vice  and  sin,  thousands 
perish  as  slaves  to  the  inexorable  Vice  Trust. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     177 

dreds.  He  was  not  of  a  really  bad  stripe.  Circum- 
stances  gave   him   scarcely   any  other   alternative. 

There  are  honest  policemen  in  Chicago.  Far  be 
it  from  us  to  cast  mud  of  dishonor  and  obloquy  at  all 
members  of  the  department.  We  simply  state  that 
a  large  majority  of  the  members  are  corrupt  and  that 
is  a  pcsitive  and  known  fact,  although  these  men  have 
managed  through  the  protection  afTorded  them  by 
their  political  masters  to  escape  the  penitentiary. 

The  police  duties,  consequent  on  the  assumption 
to  such  a  position  are  numerous.  In  Chicago  these 
are  forgotten  daily. 

Wherever  vice  and  sin  flourish  as  they  do  here, 
the  same  condition  of  police  corruption  is  to  be  found. 
It  was  found  in  San  Francisco,  Louisville,  Seattle  and 
other  big  cities. 

THE  LOST  CHILD  THAT  IS  NEVER   FOUND. 

To  kidnap  an  innocent  child,  to  rob  a  fond  mother 
of  the  greatest  treasure  God  can  give  her,  to  tear 
away  from  a  mother's  sweet  and  pure  embrace  her 
own  flesh  and  blood  —  that  is  a  crime  as  heinous  as 
murder. 

Kidnapings  are   reported  to  the  police  each  day. 

What  is  the  result?  About  forty-five  per  cent  of 
the  kidnaped  children  are  never  found. 

What  of  the  remaining?  God  alone  can  tell  of  the 
tragedies  which  they  have  probably  endured.  Many 
of  them  have  been  slain  by  the  demons  who  stole 
them,  many,  particularly  those  of  maturer  years,  have 
been  sold  into  abominable  White  Slavery,  and  others 


178    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

have  been  made  slaves  in  other  ways  to  make  a  Hving 
for  their  masters. 

It  is  the  custom  of  the  police  to  put  the  name  of 
a  missing  child,  who  is  usually  a  kidnaped  child,  lured 
away  from  its  home,  on  the  pages  of  the  "missing 
book." 

The  story  is  sent  over  police  wires  to  the  various 
stations  and  precincts  as  a  kind  of  conformity  to  the 
letter  necessity.  These  cases  are  not  given  individual 
attention  by  the  police.  They  are  forgotten  and  all 
that  is  left  of  the  case  is  the  faded,  written  report. 

Occasionally  a  tragedy  that  has  brought  sorrow 
and  misery  to  some  home,  driven  a  mother  mad  with 
grief  and  robbed  a  father  of  his  reason,  comes  to  light 
through  the  powerful  influences  of  the  newspapers. 

The  cases  which  are  given  display  heads  in  the 
papers  with  pathetic  pictures  accompanying  them,  are 
but  few  in  hundreds  of  the  stories  of  missing  and 
kidnaped  children  in  which  the  tragedies  are  just  as 
deep,  just  as  abiding  and  just  as  horrible. 

These  cases  are  usually  found  by  some  energetic 
and  enthusiastic  reporter  who  "happens"  upon  them  by 
chance.  The  circumstances  appeal  to  him  and  he 
"gets  busy." 

Day  after  day  he  prods  the  police  into  annoying 
activity.  He  finally  arouses  public  sympathy  and  in- 
terest 'and  the  police  are  of  necessity  obliged  to  make 
a  pretense  at  hard  labor.  They  work  on  the  case  and 
frequently  obtain  successful  results  that  gladden  the 
heart  of  some  frantic  mother. 

Did  they  accomplish  the  work? 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     179 

To  be  fair  and  honest  —  No.  The  thanks  are  due 
the  unknown  members  of  the  press  and  not  the  police 
department. 

THE    EXPOSURE    OF    BIG    CRIMES. 

As  the  newspapers  are  greatly  responsible  for  the 
finding-  of  children,  so  they  are  the  mind  and  pushing 
power  behind  the  police  department  in  the  exposure 
of  big  crimes,  particularly  murders,  and  the  punish- 
ment of  criminals. 

Criminals  are  brought  to  justice  every  day,  men 
are  sent  to  the  penitentiary,  not  through  the  police  de- 
partment working  as  a  thinking  body  but  through  the 
efforts  of  newspapers,  expressed  in  the  tireless  ener- 
gies of  newspaper  reporters. 

The  police  department  as  a  body  has  been  clearly 
shown  up  as  a  body  of  inefficient,  unthinking  and  un- 
scrupulous men. 

One  of  the  shining  examples  of  inefficiency  is  to 
be  found  in  a  famous  murder  case  which  stirred 
Chicago  to  its  depths  several  years  ago. 

A  Bohemian  living  on  the  Southwest  side  mur- 
dered a  mother,  a  father  and  four  children. 

The  police  when  the  case  was  first  brought  to  their 
'attention  as  one  worthy  of  investigation,  it  then  being 
considered  a  strange  havoc  wrought  by  sudden  deaths, 
laughed  at  the  sincere  efforts  of  a  newspaper  man. 

They  told  him  he  was  a  dreamer  and  "hard  up" 
for  a  story.  The  newspaper  man  after  gathering  all 
the  circumstances  'and  facts,  all  suspicious,  went  to 
the  Coroner,  over  the  heads  of  the  police,  and  placed 


180    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

the  case  before  him.  The  Coroner  saw  that  all  clews 
pointed  to  a  horrible  series  of  murders.  He  began 
an  investigation,  assured  himself  that  he  was  right, 
and  then  "called"  the  police  in  and  ordered  the  arrest 
of  the  murderer.  The  man  was  later  found  guilty 
and  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  He  escaped  the  gallows 
through  a  strange  popular  sentiment  and  was  sent 
to  the  penitentiary  for  a  life  term. 

That  is  a  standard  example  of  police  inefficiency. 

Another  case  that  gives  evidence  of  the  lack  of 
initiative  in  the  police  department  came  to  light 
recently. 

It  occurred  on  the  South  side. 

Two  small  children  disappeared  from  their  home  on 
the  South  side.  The  mother  was  frantic  with  grief 
and  sorrow  and  the  father  dogged  the  police  day 
after  day  trying  to  arouse  them  from  their  lethargy 
to  search  for  his  two  children.  He  received  no  en- 
couragement. 

In  desperation  he  went  to  a  newspaper  office  and 
stated  the  case.  He  told  how  the  police  had  failed 
to  make  any  strenuous  efforts  to  find  his  children.  A 
reporter  was  sent  out  who  "stirred"  the  police  to  ac- 
tivity. Every  possible  clew  was  followed  but  to  no 
effect.  A  physician  declared  that  unless  news  of  the 
discovery  of  the  children,  alive  or  dead,  was  soon 
forthcoming  the  mother  would  succumb  to  her  grief. 

A  newspaper  reporter  suggested  that  the  waters 
in  the  slip  at  Thirty-ninth  street  and  the  lake  where 
the  children  were  accustomed  to  play,  be  dynamited. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     181 

It  occurred  to  him  and  not  to  the  police,  that  the 
two  children  might  have  fallen  into  the  water.  The 
lake  was  dynamited  at  that  place  by  the  police  and 
the  bodies  found. 

The  police  when  compelled  by  the  pressure  of 
public  opinion  are  obliged  to  resort  to  the  bolstering 
of  a  case. 

Judging  from  later  developments  innocent  men 
have  been  arrested  on  serious  charges,  thrown  into 
filthy  and  unsanitary  cells,  dragged  to  the  Criminal 
court  and  subjected  to  the  most  shameful  and  humili- 
ating treatment,  in  order  that  the  police  force  may 
purge  itself  temporarily  from  the  stigma  of  being 
inefficient. 

It  is  only  a  matter  of  inference,  but  it  seems  prob- 
able that  hundreds  of  confessions  of  crimes  are  wrung 
from  innocent  victims  by  the  brutal  "third  degree" 
methods.  That  these  confessions  are  in  many  in- 
stances false,  is  proven  by  the  fact  that  when  presented 
in  a  court  of  law  they  are  thrown  out  as  valueless. 
However,  they  have  served  their  purpose.  The  public 
indignation  over  the  crime  in  question  is  given  an 
opiate  and  the  police  can  once  more  turn  their  ener- 
gies to  the  protection  of  the  business  and  properties 
of  the  vice  lords.    That  is  the  police  department  today. 

THE  POLICE  AND  PETTY  LOCAL  GRAFT. 

The  police  are  not  satisfied  with  the  percentage 
which  is  granted  them  for  the  protection  which  they 
grant  to  the  vice  holes.  The  little  fellow  is  still  itch- 
ing for  the  little  graft.     To  obtain  it  he  uses  all  the 


182     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

brutality  that  is  usually  a  strong  asset  of  an  un- 
intelligent nature. 

When  police  in  a  district  discover  that  certain 
gamblers  are  running  small  games  and  not  paying 
protection  money,  they  walk  right  through  rows  of 
open-faced  gamblers,  select  the  man  in  question  and 
throw  him  into  jail.  The  arrest  is  supposed  to  serve 
as  a  warning.  The  man  usually  heeds  the  warning 
and  goes  forth  to  gather  protection  money  for  the 
local  police. 

Hundreds  of  street  walkers,  new  to  Chicago,  who 
have  not  been  registered  regularly  by  the  vice  lords 
and  are  not  paying  the  regulation  protection,  are  vic- 
timized by  the  policeman  on  his  beat.  They  are  com- 
pelled to  give  him  a  mere  pittance  to  cover  up  their 
sins  and  ease  his  hunger  for  filthy  money. 

Even  in  the  police  department  itself  there  is  a 
constant  bickering  and  quarreling  over  the  division  of 
graft.  They  are  like  a  lot  of  hungry  vultures  circling 
about  their  loathsome  carcass  of  dead  meat.  One 
police  official  wars  against  the  entrance  of  another 
police  official  within  his  territory. 

Recently  a  negro  opened  a  crap  game  in  Cottage 
Grove  avenue.  He  paid  high  protection  money  to 
the  police  of  the  district  which  was  supposed  to  be 
turned  over  in  part  to  the  vice  lords  to  appease  their 
hunger.  Things  ran  along  smoothly  for  some  time. 
Then  a  new  and  brutal  face  that  showed  a  star  came 
to  his  place  and  demanded  money.  The  negro  de- 
clared he  had  already  paid  his  money. 

"Not  the  big  boss,"  said  the  detective  meaningly. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     183 

''My  boss  used  to  have  this  district  but  he  was  trans- 
ferred.    You  must  still  come  across  to  him." 

The  negro  refused  to  do  so.  The  "big"  boss"  police 
official  went  to  the  gambling  fraternity  'and  the  result 
was  that  the  negro  was  put  out  of  business.  The 
night  his  place  was  closed,  another,  run  by  a  friend  of 
the  "big  boss,"  opened  across  the  street.  The  police 
never  molested  it.  A  local  lieutenant  told  the  negro 
that  the  "big  boss"  police  official  was  known  in  the 
department  as  a  "double-crosser." 

"TIPPED    OFF"    RAIDS. 

In  violation  of  their  oaths,  the  police  daily  hand 
the  public  that  is  paying  their  salaries  over  to  the 
gamblers. 

Often  they  are  compelled  by  public  demand  or 
through  some  newspaper  to  .raid  places  which  are 
running  flagrantly.  Frequently,  as  has  been  shown, 
the  keepers  of  the  places  are  "tipped  off"  before  the 
raid  is  "pulled."  The  keepers  leave  a  "blind"  to  im- 
personate them  and  "ringers"  to  appear  as  customers. 
These  men  are  arrested  with  a  great  flourish  and 
blowing  of  trumpets  by  the  police.  They  are  fined. 
The  fines  are  readily  paid  by  the  real  gamblers  who 
are  thankful  to  the  police  for  the  advance  information 
given  them. 

STRANGE  IGNORANCE  OF  POLICE. 

The  police  pretend  not  to  know  of  the  existence 
of  gambling  places,  as  evidenced  by  the  recent  state- 
ment of  a   high  police  official   when   formally  asked 


184    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

by  his  superior  if  he  knew  of  any  gambling  in  his 
district.  He  declared  he  did  not  know  the  location 
of  one  place  and  was  sure  there  was  no  gambling 
in  his  district. 

A  day  later  the  Mayor  of  Chicago,  angered  at  the 
fact  that  the  gamblers  were  flaunting  their  trade  in 
the  face  of  the  public,  and  while  a  gambling  and  police 
investigation  was  under  way,  ordered  that  a  police- 
man be  stationed  in  every  gambling  house  in  the 
district  of  that  police  official. 

Strange  to  say,  although  he  had  sworn  he  knew 
of  no  gambling,  when  he  realized  that  the  Mayor 
meant  business,  he  mysteriously  found  nineteen  gam- 
bling places  that  same  night  and  stationed  men  in 
them.  That  is  one  of  the  laughable  inconsistencies  of 
the  police  department. 

One  of  the  policemen,  assigned  to  the  work  of 
standing  guard  over  a  gambling  house  when  ques- 
tioned about  the  matter,  said : 

"Of  course  we  all  knew  these  places  were  here  and 
running  full  blast.  But  that  wasn't  the  question.  I 
have  been  a  policeman  for  fifteen  years  and  I  haven't 
been  asleep  all  that  time.  I  have  learned  that  the 
policeman  must  not  obey  the  law  written  in  the 
statutes.  He  must  follow  the  tacit  customs  of  the 
department.  A  policeman  must  never  make  a  move 
until  he  is  told  to  do  so.  If  he  does,  he  finds  he  is 
treading  on  some  big  man's  toes  and  then  the  transfer 
slip  comes  to  'him  soon." 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     185 

POLICE,  BURGLARS   AND   PICKPOCKETS. 

It  seems  incredible  but  investigation  and  constant 
observation  has  proved  that  many  big  police  officials 
and  a  number  of  smaller  ones,  have  fallen  so  low  that 
they  "hold  up"  the  burglar  and  the  pickpocket  and 
make  them  pay  for  their  silence  and  protection. 

There  is  a  thieves'  rendezvous  on  the  West  side 
that  is  known  to  the  police,  but  the  members  of  this 
gang  are  rarely  disturbed. 

Every  night  detectives  and  policemen  in  uniform 
stroll  past  this  saloon  and  salute  the  well  known  crim- 
inals lounging  about. 

Every  day  robberies,  burglaries  and  holdups  and 
the  depredations  of  pickpockets  are  reported  to  the 
police.  Rarely  is  stolen  property  recovered  in  com- 
parison to  the  amounts  taken. 

But  as  an  indication  of  the  strength  of  the  alliance 
between  the  police  and  the  thieves,  when  some  one 
demands  justice  in  a  strong  voice  that  has  powerful 
backing  of  a  financial  or  political  character,  the  police 
are  always  able  to  recover  the  property  and  restare 
it  to  its  lawful  owner. 

A  certain  labor  organization  gathered  through  in- 
vestigators, information  sworn  to,  in  affidavits,  of  the 
acceptance  by  policemen  on  the  West  side  of  protec- 
tion money  from  well  known  crooks  who  have  criminal 
records  in  every  large  city  in  the  country. 

THE  FATE  OF  THE  HONEST  POLICEMAN. 

It  has  been  stated  that  this  chapter  is  not  an  attack 
on  the  hundreds  of  honest  policemen  who  day  and 


186     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

night  at  the  risk  of  their  own  lives,  battle  for  public 
welfare,  clean  morals  and  the  eradication  of  the  vicious 
elements  of  the  community. 

There  are  many  honest  policemen.  But,  we  must 
say  that  these  men,  kept  in  the  dark  by  the  corrupt 
because  they  cannot  be  corrupted  are  usually  "black- 
balled," in  some  mysterious  way  by  the  powers  that 
be,  and  the  majority  of  them  never  achieve  any  rank 
in  the  department.  Of  course  there  have  been  a  few 
exceptions  to  this  condition. 

The  "transfer"  system,  which  is  nothing  more  than 
police  railroading,  is  the  most  active  medium  of  get- 
ting an  honest  and  incorruptible  policeman  out  of  the 
way.  If  a  man  shows  an  inclination  to  balk  at  the 
commands  of  his  superior  who  is  but  the  agent  of 
the  great  Vice  Trust,  he  is  speedily  transferred  to  a 
harmless  post  where  he  is  forgotten  and  remembered 
only  when  paid  his  monthly  salary. 

An  incident  of  how  the  honest  policemen  suffer  is 
the  following: 

Six  unsophisticated  policemen,  anxious  to  show 
their  mettle  and  overzealous  in  the  performance  of 
their  duty,  discovered  a  hilarious  and  richly  paying 
crap  game  running  at  Lake  and  Carpenter  streets. 
They  decided  it  was  their  duty  to  raid  it.  They  did 
so.  They  thought  they  would  be  commended  by  their 
superior  ofificers  for  their  conduct. 

Instead  of  commendation  they  were  told  they  were 
inefficient  and  material  that  would  never  make  good 
policemen. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     187 

Two  days  later  they  were  transferred  to  South 
Chicago.  That  meant  that  they  were  oWiged  to 
travel  thirty-two  miles  each  day  from  their  homes 
on  the  West  side  to  their  posts  on  the  far  South'  side. 

Is  it  necessary  to  say  why? 

Simply  because  in  doing  their  duty  in  raiding  the 
crap  game,  they  spoiled  the  profits  of  the  Vice  Trust. 
The  game  was  run  by  a  man  who  paid  an  enormous 
amount  of  monthly  protection  money  to  these  men's 
masters.     They  had  "tread  on  somebody's  feet." 

Investigation  of  records  of  transfers  in  the  depart- 
ment showed  that  thirty  per  cent  of  the  transfers  were 
caused  for  such  reasons.  The  record  sheets  of  men 
showed,  in  many  instances,  that  a  few  days  before 
their  transfers  they  had  antagonized  the  great  Vice 
Trust  by  attempting  to  do  their  duty  to  the  public 
which   entrusted  them  to  enforce  the  laws. 

As  an  instance  of  how  the  "transfer  game"  may 
be  worked  with  telling  effect  even  on  a  police  official 
who  refuses  to  give  his  powers  to  the  protection  of 
gambling,  the  following  suits  the  purpose. 

A  prominent  political  leader,  anxious  to  gather 
spoils,  went  to  a  certain  police  lieutenant  on  the  North 
side,  and  said  to  him : 

"Well,  we're  going  to  start  something  up  this 
way." 

"Not  unless  it's  on  the  order  books  and  the  captain 
stands  for  it,"  answered  the  police  officer  carefully. 

Result :  — 


188    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

The  next  day  that  lieutenant  was  transferred  by  the 
powers  of  the  Vice  Trust.  One  hour  and  a  half  after 
his  successor  took  his  place,  the  new  commander  was 
seen  watching-  a  street  faro  game  in  progress.  He 
stood  across  from  it  and  watched  the  gambling  com- 
bine's agent  skin  tlie  "pikers"  and  he  never  moved  to 
stop  it. 

Certain  policemen  in  Chicago  who  are  compelled 
to  arrest  certain  well  known  criminal  characters,  cheat 
justice  even  after  the  arrests  are  made.  They  send 
the  criminals  to  certain  corrupt  criminal  lawyers.  Then 
when  the  case  comes  to  trial,  the  policemen  lose  their 
memories  and  do  not  remember  the  incriminating  cir- 
cumstances under  which  their  prisoners  were  taken. 
These  policemen  receive  a  percentage,  amounting  to 
about  fifty  per  cent,  on  the  cases  which  they  give  to 
this  class  of  shysters. 

Could  Chicago  have  a  deeper  blot  of  shame,  dis- 
honor and  disgrace  on  her  escutcheon  than  the  present 
police  department? 

Can  the  condition  be  remedied? 

Is  there  hope  that  some  day  criminals  may  be 
locked  behind  barred  dbors  that  gold  cannot  pick? 

There  is  always  hope  while  honest  men  and  women 
live  and  struggle  to  build  up  a  city  to  rear  their  chil- 
dren unsullied.  The  police  department  is  only  one  part 
of  a  great  slave  system.  The  evil  is  back  at  the  ballot 
box.      It   is  the  old   and   onlv   solution   here  as   else- 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     189 

where,    in    the    conditions    that    make    Chicag-o    the 
"wickedest  city  in  the  world." 

That  solution  is  the  annihilation  AT  THE 
BALLOT  BOX  of  the  powers  of  vice,  graft  and  sin, 
—  the  Vice  Trust  with  its  Directorate  of  Ten. 

The  civic  conscience  will  arouse  itself  from  its 
lethargy  and  some  day  purge  out  the  evils  that  have 
thrived  so  prosperously  for  so  many  years. 


CHAPTER  X. 

What  Are  You  Going  To  Do 
About  It? 

The  Cause  of  the  Great  Evils  —  A  Warning  —  The  Duty 
of    Parents  —  Conclusion. 

Christ,  prostrate  at  Gethsemane  and  hanging  in 
his  death  agony  upon  the  cross,  prayed  for  a  dying, 
decaying  world's  redemption. 

Chicago  was  included  in  the  divine  plan  of  things 
since  the  beginning. 

Chicago  has  not  been  forgotten. 

Though  her  sins  are  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  washed 
as  white  as  snow. 

There  is  within  the  community  a  slowly  awakening 
civic  conscience.  It  shall  arouse  itself  to  deathless 
activity  and  wrest  the  Windy  City  from  the  forces 
that  prey  upon  it.     That  is  our  prophecy. 

The  religious  thought,  the  religious  mind,  the 
religious  heart  are  ready  to  do  battle  for  the  God  of 
righteousness. 

Behind  the  telling  of  this  story  of  Vice,  Graft  and 
Political  Corruption  has  been  but  one  predominating 
idea,  the  revelation  of  the  truth  'about  Chicasro  today. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     191 

There  has  been  but  one  hope :  —  the  arousing  of 
Chicagoans  to  the  fight  against  corruption  by  revealing 
the  terrible  evils  thriving  about  them  and  the  deliver- 
ing of  a  warning  to  those  in  and  out  of  the  great 
metropolis  who,  innocent  and  unsuspecting,  might  be 
trapped  in  the  lures  of  sin,  evil  and  shame. 

On  the  great  white,  festering  ulcer  of  Chicago's 
world  of  crime  and  vice,  we  have  turned  the  burning 
searchlight  of  truth.  Into  all  the  dark  corners,  the 
pitfalls,  the  covered  abysses  and  the  paths  that  lure 
and  lead  to  Hell,  has  the  light,  blinding  in  its  in- 
tensity, been  thrown. 

In  the  beginning  we  started  out  to  demonstrate  the 
theory  that  vice  and  crime  as  they  exist  and  flourish 
tod'ay  are  so,  because  infamous  and  degraded  men 
have  commercialized  them. 

It  has  been  shown  that  thousands  of  innocent  girls 
and  women  are  hurled  into  the  bottomless  pits  of  Hell 
annually,  not  because  of  a  social  viciousness  that  has 
no  palliative,  but  because  a  coterie  of  Godless  creatures 
value  their  bodies  and  souls  at  so  many  dollars  and 
cents. 

It  has  been  shown  that  back  of  all  the  wickedness 
and  evil  of  Chicago  is  the  monumental  and  gigantic 
Vice  Trust.  The  body,  composed  of  a  directorate  of 
ten  men  who  for  years  have  fattened  ofif  the  sins  of 
fallen  women  and  the  crimes  of  inhuman  men,  has 
been  vivisected  and  analyzed  in  all  its  component 
parts. 

Truly,  we  have  painted  Chicago  as  the  wickedest 
city  in  the  world. 


192     THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

We  have  not  held  it  up  and  cried  "Shame"  for 
the  sake  of  sensation. 

We  have  sought  to  teach  a  lesson  and  utter  a 
warning  of  vital  import. 

If  the  reading-  of  this  book  turns  the  thousands 
of  women  who  yearly  stand  on  the  brink  of  destruc- 
tion, and  saves  them  as  an  honor  to  the  motherhood 
of  the  race,  then  this  book  v»'ill  have  been  of  infinite 
value. 

CHICAGO  — WICKEDEST   CITY   IN   THE   WORLD. 

Its  wickedness  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  teririble 
irreligious  system  of  commercialism  that  has  reduced 
the  sacred  things  of  life  to  a  filthy  gold  and  silver 
valuation. 

As  long  as  men  whose  consciences  are  stifled  by 
gold  dust,  whose  souls  are  Godless,  and  whose  hearts 
are  dry  and  hard  as  rock,  control  our  ballot  box,  so 
long  shall  Chicago  live  under  an  infamous  stigma. 

When  the  ballot  box  is  cleansed  of  fraud,  then  the 
forces  of  sin  will  be  dissipated  and  the  Vice  Combine 
of  today   dissolved. 

The  "redlight"  districts  must  stand  as  pesthouses 
where  death  feeds  on  the  bodies  of  men  and  women 
until  the  political  foundations  of  the  Vice  Trust  are 
dynamited  and  destroyed.  So,  too,  the  saloons,  the 
dance  halls,  the  thousands  of  dens  of  infamy  and  hell- 
holes, where  the  seed  of  sin  is  sowed  in  the  hearts 
of  innocent  giirls. 

The  police  department,  as  we  have  shown,  is  a 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     193 

helpless,  dependent,  parasitic  body.  The  Vice  Trust 
has  enslaved  it.  Just  as  long  as  the  Vice  Trust  exists, 
so  long  will  the  police  department  do  its  bidding, 
while  the  laws  are  forgotten  and  disobeyed  and  a 
taxpayirbg  public  is  left  to  the  mercy  of  thieves  and 
murderers. 
But  — 

WHAT  ARE  YOU   GOING  TO   DO  ABOUT  IT? 

Rise  up  and  in  a  body  of  Christian  manhood  and 
womanhood   slay  the  monster  of   hellish  iniquity. 

But  while  the  evil  exists  be  prepared  to  fight 
against  it  for  the  sake  of  yourselves  and  your  children. 

We  have  told  a  horrifying  story  to  save  the  pure 
souls  and  undefiled  bodies  of  your  sons  and  daughters. 

Books  have  been  written  by  the  dozens  on  the 
question  of  White  Slavery  as  a  warning  to  young 
girls  and  their  parents  as  to  how  the  infamous  agents 
of  this  soul  and  body  traffic  work. 

The  warning  is  timely. 

But  we  have  struck  out  into  a  broader  pathway. 

But  one  third  of  the  lost  women  today  are  the 
victims  of  the  White  Slave  Traffic. 

Two  thirds  of  the  girls  who  are  dying  slow  deaths 
in  the  gilded  dens  of  infamy  drifted  there  because 
they  knew  not  the  hideous,  paralyzing  truth :  because 
they  dreamed  not  of  the  sorrow,  shame,  hunger,  re- 
morse and  despair  that  was  to  be  their  bitter  mouthful 
from  the  chalice  of  life. 

To  save  the  girls  and  women  who  in  the  future 
may  form  that  two-thirds  battalion  of  human  slaves 


194    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

has  ibeen  our  aim  in  treating  of  the  scarlet  woman 
and  her  tribute  to,  and  reward  from  the  Vice  Trust. 

Few  girls  who  today  are  tottering  drunkenly  and 
uncleanly  to  a  prostitute's  grave,  ever  dreamed  of  the 
fate  in  store  as  they  sipped  the  first  glass  of  wine 
or  felt  the  burning  lips  of  an  agent  of  Satan  upon 
their  cheek. 

We  have  set  about  to  tell  every  woman  what  is 
the  inevitable  end  of  the  life  of  shame  and  sin. 

To  the  girl  who  dreams  of  fine  clothes,  glittering 
jewelry,  wine  suppers  and  association  with  men  of 
birilHant  character,  down  in  the  hell-holes  of  Chicago, 
we  say : 

It  is  the  greatest  lie  Satan  ever  invented  to  wrest 
your  souls  from  God  and  give  your  bodies  to  the  un- 
hallowed grave. 

There  is  no  hope  to  those  who  heed  not  the 
warning. 

A  life  of  sin  in  Chicago,  is  a  life  of  slavery  to  the 
Vice  Trust. 

Over  and  over  again  on  the  rock  of  crime,  the 
agents  of  that  gigantic  combine  will  break  each 
woman's  body,  taking  flesh,  pound  by  pound,  and 
blood,  drop  by  drop,  until  the  last  m-crciless  toll  has 
been  exacted  on  the  brink  of  the  grave. 

When  the  mask  is  torn  ofif,  there  is  nothing  to 
lure  in  the  life  of  the  underworld. 

It  has  been  shown  how  the  thousands  of  women 
in  the  segregated  districts  are  robbed  of  even  the 
last  dollar  of  their  immoral  earnings. 

To  every  father  and  mother  we  cry  out : 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     195 

FOR  GOD'S  SAKE  LET  YOUR  DAUGHTER 
KNOW  THE  TRUTH  BEFORE  IT  IS  TOO 
LATE! 

Tell  her  of  the  pitfalls  that  are  ever  a'bout  her; 
teach  her  the  horror  and  ignominy  of  the  life  of  sin 
that  may  be  the  consequence  of  one  night  in  a  cafe, 
or  in  an  evil  dance  hall. 

Put  this  book  into  her  hands  so  that  she  may  go 
forth  to  battle  with  the  powers  of  evil  and  pass 
through  the  white  fire  unscathed. 

FOREWARNED    IS    FOREARMED. 

To  be  prepared  for  life's  battle  is  the  first  victory. 

If  your  daughter  in  the  future  is  to  make  her 
living  in  the  big  city,  prepare  her  for  the  temptations 
that  will  beset  her. 

The  truth  may  be  an  awful  revelation  to  her,  but 
the  facts  set  forth  in  this  book,  showing  the  fate 
of  the  scarlet  woman  who  dreamed  of  love,  luxury 
and  pleasure,  and  plunged  into  the  lake  of  infamy, 
may  save  her  from  a  similar  fate. 

If  you  will  save  yourself,  mother  and  father,  from 
sitting  about  the  fireplace,  wondering  in  the  aching 
sorrow  of  your  heart,  as  to  where  your  rosy-cheeked, 
bright-eyed  daughter  is,  teach  her  the  facts  as  we 
have  set  them  forth. 

Teach  her  that  it  is  not  the  White  Slave  Traffic 
she  must  dread  alone.  Teach  her  that  it  is  the  place 
of  amusement  that  seems  innocent,  the  drinking  of 
pleasant  drinks,  the  association  with  characterless  men. 

Once   she  tastes  the   fruit  that  is  forbidden,   the 


196    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

rest  is  days  and  nights  of  drifting  on  and  on  until 
the  whirlpool  of  vice  swallows  her. 

For  the  sake  of  a  glorious  motherhood,  for  the 
sake  of  a  new  generation  of  men  and  women  who 
shall  make  earth  a  picture  of  the  eternal  Paradise,  let 
your  daughter  know  the  horrors  of  sin  in  a  large  city. 

All  that  has  been  said  of  the  girl  applies  to  the 
parent  and  the  hoy. 

The  boy  here  and  the  one  who  comes  to  Chicago 
must  also  know  of  the  paths,  luring  and  attractive, 
that  lead  direct  to  the  gates  of  Hell. 

As  you  tuck  your  darling  into  his  bed  tonight, 
think  of  his  future. 

To  be  great  he  must  be  honest.  To  be  a  leader 
he  must  be  pure  of  heart.  To  be  a  true  citizen  he 
must  be  filled  with  the  love  of  a  true  and  chaste 
womanhood,  a  despiser  of  mercenary  ideals,  an  ad- 
vocate of  good  government  and  a  supporter  of  in- 
flexible and  just  laws. 

He  will  carry  on  his  struggle  in  the  maelstrom  of  a 
large  city,  possibly  Chicago. 

Is  it  fair  to  hurl  him  into  the  midst  of  temptations 
without  weapons  to  fight  the  demons  of  sin,  crime, 
vice  and  corruption? 

Tell  him  the  truth.     Let  him  read  the  truth. 

Every  young  man  should  know  the  evils  which 
wait  ever  ready  to  trap  him. 

He  should  know  of  the  great  Vice  Trust,  of  its 
system  of  slavery,  of  its  power  and  scope  of  oper- 
ation, of  its  daily  bartering  of  flesh  and  blood,  of  its 
alliance   with   the   dishonest   gambling  combine. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     197 

Then  he  will  be  prepared  to  gain  the  ranks  of 
those  who  will  battle  unwearyingly  and  ceaselessly 
against  the  monster. 

Better  that  your  daughter  should  sleep  today  un- 
derneath the  green  sward  in  the  country  church  yard, 
in  the  city  cemetery,  than  be  the  slave  of  a  dastardly 
vice  system,  wearing  her  flesh  away,  damning  her  soul 
and  eating  out  her  heart  for  her  vice  masters. 

Better  that  your  boy  should  be  taken  from  you  in 
the  flush  of  early  manhood  than  that  he  should  grow 
up  to  fall  a  hopeless  victim  to  the  curse  of  a  great 
city. 

God  gave  you  your  child.  He  gave  you  a  terrible 
responsibility  —  the    salvation   of  that   child's   soul. 

Therefore,  prepare  him  or  her  for  the  battle  "that 
goeth  on  unending  to  the  tomb." 

We  have  told  the  story  of  a  City  Defiled,  of  a 
city  given  over  to  the  powers  of  darkness.  We  have 
shown  the  existence  of  a  Vice  Body  and  how  it 
protects  'and  feeds  its  thousands  of  slaves,  permitting 
them  to  live  to  turn  more  drops  of  blood  into  gold 
for  them. 

A    PICTURE   OF   CHICAGO. 

The  story  is  a  picture  of  Chicago,  drawn  only 
after  the  most  thorough  investigation,  but  we  venture 
to  say  that  investigation  would  reveal  the  same  con- 
ditions in  all  the  larger  cities. 

Sincerely    we    pray    we    have    done    good.     Our 


198    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

exposure  was  undertaken  with  a  sense  of  duty  to  the 
2,000,000  residents  of  Chicago  and  to  the  thousands 
that  swarm  into  her  gates  daily. 

Chicago  needs  civic  leaders,  civic  martyrs,  —  men 
and  women  who  will  lead  the  army  of  Christian 
warriors  to  battle ;  men  and  women  who  will  lay 
down  their  lives  that  their  homes  may  be  without  peril 
from  the  terrible  vice  plague, —  that  their  children  may 
never  know  the  face  of  sin  and  vice. 

Chicago  is  full  of  latent  good,  religious  enthusiasm, 
moral  courage.     It  needs  to  be  aroused. 

One  concerted  blow  struck  at  the  head  of  the  mon- 
ster Vice  would  cause  its  death. 

Let  Chicago's  Christian  population  strike  the  fatal 
blow. 

Let  us  engage  in  an  honest  rebellion  with  patriot- 
ism to  our  children,  our  country  and  our  God,  in  our 
hearts. 

Overthrow  the  Dynasty  of  Vice !  Overthrow  the 
corrupt  political  system  that  established  and  today 
sustains  the  Vice  Trust! 

Voice  is  without  power  adequately  to  describe  the 
inferno  that  burns  about  us  and  daily  offers  to  the 
god  of  the  pagans  as  a  propitiatory  sacrifice  the  souls 
of  men  and  women. 

The  human  mind,  if  it  could  conceive  the  real 
horror  of  the  meaning,  —  Vice  Trust,  —  would  be 
paralyzed  by  the  revelation. 


THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY     199 

Chicago  needs  human  redeemers,  —  God-inspired 
men  and  women. 

Human  persistency,  concerted  effort,  backed  by- 
unconquerable  wills  and  hearts  that  hold  God  as  a 
perpetual  visitant,  cannot  fail. 

We  of  this  generation  have  a  sacred  duty. 

That  duty  is  the  scourging  of  the  Vice  combine 
and  the  cleansing  of  Chicago.  That  duty  devolves 
on  the  reform  leaders  and  their  thousands  of  Christian 
followers. 

THE    STORY    IS    CONCLUDED. 

The  story  is  concluded.  The  trail  of  graft  has 
been  followed  from  the  ballot  box  to  the  dive,  from 
the  dive  to  the  house  of  prostitution,  from  the  house 
of  prostitution  to  the  gambling  hole  and  on  up  to  the 
houses  of  those  debased  public  men  and  people- 
appointed  guardians  of  the  law,  who  are  today 
weighted  down  with  the  gold,  created  by  the  melting 
of  vice,  sin  and  crime  in  the  melting  pot  of  the  under- 
world. 

Chicago  waits  for  salvation. 

Who  shall  bring  it  the  "tidings  of  great  joy"? 

Every  father  and  mother,  every  man  and  woman, 
every  youth  and  maiden. 

As  a  mighty  army  let  us  go  forth.  As  a  mighty 
army,  with  God's  armor  upon  us,  using  all  the  means 
at  our  command,  let  us  meet  and  conquer  the  enemy. 


200    THE  VICE  BONDAGE  OF  A  GREAT  CITY 

With'  hearts  thriUing  with  the  horror  of  thousands 
of  souls  precipitated  to  endless  darkness,  with  souls 
full  of  divine  charity  for  our  brothers  and  sisters,  let 
us  annihilate  the  Vice  Trust  and  its  minions. 

Let  the  battle  cry  be  — 

The  Universal  Brotherhood,  all  for  God  and  God 
for  all. 

In  the  place  of  dives  let  us  have  gardens ;  in  the 
place  of  dens  of  infamy,  playgrounds  for  a  growing 
generation. 

The  revelation  has  been  made.  Now  is  the  time 
of  expurgation. 

From  the  Wickedest  City  in  the  World,  Chicago 
may  become  through  persistent  and  systematic  attack 
on  its  Vice  Trust  — 

THE   CITY   BEAUTIFUL   OF   ALL   NATIONS. 


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